Virtual prototyping on Arm AE IP enables development to begin before physical silicon is available.
Arm's next-generation AE processor brings Armv9 and server-class performance to the automotive sector.

Arm has unveiled its latest Arm Automotive Enhanced (AE) processors along with a new virtual platform that promises to shorten vehicle development cycles by up to two years, an industry first.

Arm held an online press conference on the 14th and announced new solutions that will help the automotive partner ecosystem accelerate development.

This announcement marks a significant step forward in activating the automotive ecosystem, opening new opportunities for developers, and accelerating time to market for leading OEMs, tier 1s, silicon partners, and software providers building the future of software-defined vehicles on Arm, Arm said.

Arm enables the ecosystem to leverage Arm AE IP for software development ahead of silicon through virtual prototyping.

Kim Tae-yong, Principal FAE of Arm Korea, who took the helm as a presenter, said, “A sequential development methodology, such as building hardware and then developing software on silicon after the solution is released, cannot meet the needs of today’s automotive industry.” He added, “Platforms for hardware and software implementation must be released simultaneously, and only then can we achieve t for vehicle manufacturers.”He emphasized that “it can contribute to achieving time-to-market goals.”

Today, Arm is changing this with a new approach that enables software developers to begin development before physical silicon is available by performing virtual prototyping on the latest, industry-leading Arm AE IP.

Director Kim announced that Arm will introduce its proposal for automotive virtual prototyping based on the next-generation AI product line that it is launching this time, together with industry-leading cloud and virtual platform companies, by applying digital twin technology (virtual prototyping) that was previously applied to factory automation to the automotive sector.

This will likely allow developers to begin developing software even before silicon samples are released.

Arm is partnering with industry leaders including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cadence, Corellium, and Siemens to deliver these virtual platforms and cloud solutions, enabling faster and more seamless development across full-stack software.

We have also collaborated with Autoware Foundation, Blackberry QNX, Elektrobit, Kernkonzept, LeddarTech, Mapbox, Sensory, Tata Technologies, TIER IV, and Vector to realize Foundational Automotive Software for Automotive.

Director Kim Tae-yong said, “This pre-prepared foundational software is also necessary for the development of automotive applications to be performed on top of it.“The benefits of virtual prototyping can be fully utilized,” he said. “These solutions will have a significant impact on the developer experience and will allow time-to-market to be reduced by up to two years.”

Arm is bringing Armv9-based technologies to the automotive space for the first time, enabling the industry to leverage the AI, security, and virtualization capabilities of the latest Arm architecture.

To meet the increasing performance requirements of today's vehicles, Arm is bringing its server-grade Neoverse technology to vehicles, along with new Armv9-based Cortex-A products for scalability.

Products Arm announced today include: the Arm Cortex-A720AE, delivering industry-leading sustained performance with SoC design flexibility for a wide range of SDV applications; the Arm Cortex-A520AE, delivering leading power efficiency with scalable functional safety features across automotive use cases; the Arm Cortex-R82AE, the highest-performance real-time processor ever for functional safety, bringing 64-bit compute to real-time processing for the first time; and the Arm Mali-C720AE, a configurable ISP optimized for the most demanding computer and human vision use cases.

Arm said that the Automotive Arm CSS will provide pre-integrated and validated configurations of Arm AE IP optimized for performance, power, and area using state-of-the-art foundry processes, and that Arm's first Automotive CSS is expected to be released in 2025.

Meanwhile, Hwang Sun-wook, President of Arm Korea, said in his welcoming speech, “The automotive market is experiencing unprecedented changes such as electrification and autonomous driving, and these changes are becoming a catalyst for the development of SDV and AI.” He added, “AI functions for vehicles are functional safety and real-time operation.” “It is further increasing the complexity of implementation as it must be taken into consideration,” he said.

He continued, “Automotive systems will become more complex and the need for safety will expand, and there will be a need for standardization to integrate all of these compute components into one for our partners, maintaining consistency at the core.” “Arm CSS for Automotive will use the most advanced foundry processes to deliver pre-integrated and validated configurations of Arm AE IP, optimized for performance, power, and area.”