A Xilinx Zync chip will be used in an automated valet parking application for self-driving vehicles being mass produced in China early next year.
Xilinx announced Wednesday that its Zync UltraScale multi-processor System on Chip (MPSoC) is being used to power Baidu’s Apollo Computing Unit-Advanced platform for the automated valet parking system.
The valet capability will be used in vehicles from Weltmeister Automobile, according to a release from Baidu.
In one example, the valet parking assist service will allow a shopper to drive to a shopping area and direct the Apollo platform to automatically drive the vehicle to an open parking space. A series of vehicle sensors, including cameras and radar, will be used to detect objects and guide the vehicle to the space, park it and return it when signaled from a smartphone.
The Zync chip in the vehicle will fuse all the sensor data and process it with the Apollo platform into directions for the vehicle. “All that data and sensor fusion and processing has to be low-latency, which the Zync chip provides,” said Emre Onder, senior vice president of marketing for Xilinx, in an interview.
Xilinx considers Advance Driver Assistance Systems and self-driving vehicles to be one of several fast-growing markets that Xilinx focuses on. The company, founded in 1984, first entered the auto solutions market 13 years ago.
Its Zynq chip business grew approximately 70% in the past year, approaching $1 billion in revenue. Xilinx has sold 170 million chips to auto makers who have 100 ADAS and autonomous vehicle models in production.
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