Renesas is the first to introduce a multi-domain fusion SoC with a 3nm process

Renesas Electronics, a global semiconductor solutions provider, announced the launch of a new generation of automotive multi-domain integrated system-on-chip (SoC), the R-Car X5 series, which enables a single chip to simultaneously support multiple automotive functional domains, including advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), in-vehicle infotainment systems (IVI), and gateway applications. The highly anticipated R-Car X5H SoC, the first product in the R-Car X5 family, uses advanced 3nm vehicle scale processes with high integration and performance to drive the transformation of Oems and Tier 1 suppliers to centralized electronic control units (ECUs), simplifying development processes and creating future-proof system solutions. Thanks to its unique hardware isolation technology, the Renesas R-Car X5H SoC is one of the industry's first solutions to enable highly integrated and secure processing that simultaneously supports multiple on-board functional domains on a single chip. In addition, the new SoC offers the option to extend artificial intelligence (AI) and graphics processing performance through Chiplet (small chip package) technology.

As the most capable member of the fifth-generation (Gen 5) R-Car product family, the R-Car X5H confronts the growing complexity of software-defined vehicle (SDV) development, overcoming challenges including optimizing compute performance, power consumption, cost, hardware and software integration, while ensuring vehicle safety. Take applications such as autonomous driving, IVI, and gateways to the next level by tightly combining application processing, real-time processing, GPU and AI computing, large display capabilities, and sensor connectivity on a single chip.

The new SoC family achieves up to 400TOPS of AI computing power and industry-leading TOPS/W performance, while supporting up to 4TFLOPS of GPU processing power. It features a total of 32 Arm® Cortex®-A720AE CPU cores for application processing, providing more than 1,000K DMIPS of CPU computing power. The product is also equipped with six Arm Cortex-R52 dual-lock step CPU cores to achieve over 60K DMIPS performance and support ASIL D functionality without the need for an external microcontroller (MCU). This series of SOCs is manufactured using one of TSMC's most advanced process nodes, achieving higher CPU performance while consuming 30-35% less power than products designed with 5nm process nodes (Note 2). These energy efficient features not only eliminate the need for additional cooling solutions and significantly reduce overall system costs, but also extend vehicle driving range.

Chiplet expands for increased flexibility and higher performance

While R-Car's fifth-generation SoCs are already equipped with powerful native NPU and GPU processing engines, Renesas brings customers the ability to boost performance based on Chiplet technology extensions. For example, when combining 400-TOPS on-chip NPU with external NPU via Chiplet extension, AI processing performance can be improved by 3-4 times or more. To enable seamless Chiplet integration, R-Car X5H provides standard UCle (Universal Small Chip Interconnect Channel) inter-chip interfaces and apis to facilitate interoperability with other components in multi-chip systems, even if those components are not Renesas chips. This flexible design approach allows Oems and Tier 1 suppliers to mix and match different features and customize their systems across vehicle platforms, including future upgrades.

Supports security isolation of multiple domains with different functional security levels

While automakers and Tier 1 suppliers are increasingly demanding performance and functionality, safety remains their top priority. While other SOCs rely solely on software isolation, the R-Car X5H SoC also uses hardware-based "Interfere-free (FFI)" technology. This hardware design isolates safety-critical functions, such as wire control, from non-critical functions. Functions considered critical to security can be assigned to separate and redundant domains. Each domain has its own separate CPU core, memory, and interface, preventing a potentially catastrophic failure of the vehicle in the event of hardware or software failure in different domains. In addition, the R-Car X5H is equipped with Quality of service (QoS) management to prioritize workloads and allocate processing resources in real time.

Vivek Bhan, Senior Vice President and General Manager of High Performance Computing at Renesas said: "Renesas' latest innovations in the R-Car 5th generation platform effectively address the complex challenges facing the automotive industry today. Our customers are looking for end-to-end vehicle-level system solutions ranging from hardware optimization and security compliance to flexible and scalable architecture options and seamless tool and software integration. Renesas' R-Car fifth generation family meets these needs. We are committed to supporting the automotive industry in accelerating SDV development and 'leftward' innovation to usher in the next era of automotive technology."

Dr. Kevin Zhang, TSMC's Senior Vice President of Business Development and Global Sales, and Deputy Co-COO said: "We are excited to partner with Renesas Electronics, a trusted automotive technology leader, to bring their latest innovations to market using our state-of-the-art 3nm process technology." Developed specifically for advanced automotive SOCs, our N3A process delivers industry-leading 3nm performance and meets AEC Q-100 Grade 1 reliability standards. "We are excited to partner with Renesas to develop the R-Car Gen5 platform and help reshape the future of the silicon-defined vehicle."

Asif Anwar, Executive Director of Automotive Market Analysis, TechInsights said: "The path to software-defined vehicles (SDVS) will be underpinned by the digitization of the cockpit, vehicle connectivity and the capabilities of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The vehicle's electronic/electrical (E/E) architecture will be the core driving force as various functions are integrated into regional and central controllers, which will provide the necessary computing power. TechInsights forecasts that the regional controller and high-performance computing SoC processor market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17% between 2028 and 2031."

Anwar continued, "Renesas Electronics, one of the top three suppliers of automotive processors, has leveraged its decades of experience to introduce the fifth-generation R-Car X5H SoC, which can be scaled to meet the requirements of the SDV. Based on the 3nm process, the R-Car X5H SoC enables a multi-domain solution that can be used across vehicle platforms and optimizes power consumption. "Combined with the RoX SDV platform, Renesas is able to provide software-first, cross-domain solutions that will reduce time to market in the automotive industry."

Scalable 5th generation R-Car platform

Renesas' fifth-generation R-Car platform supports the widest range of processing needs in the industry - from regional ECUs to advanced central computing, covering entry-level vehicles to luxury models. Thanks to the new unified hardware architecture based on the Arm CPU core, R-Car fifth-generation product developers can reuse the same software, tools and applications from Renesas' new 64-bit SOCs and future products, including crossover 32-bit MCUS and vehicle-level 32-bit MCUS. As part of the next generation R-Car product family, Renesas will expand its vehicle control portfolio with a new R-Car MCU family that also uses Arm technology. Renesas plans to introduce samples of a new 32-bit MCU family with enhanced safety for body and chassis applications in the first quarter of 2025.

The R-Car Open Access (RoX) platform is available for SDV development

Renesas' latest R-Car X5H and all future fifth-generation products are designed to accelerate SDV development by integrating hardware and software into a comprehensive development platform. The newly released R-Car Open Access (RoX) SDV platform integrates all the critical hardware, operating systems (OS), software, and tools automotive developers need to rapidly develop next-generation vehicles, with secure, continuous software updates. RoX provides Oems and Tier 1 suppliers with a flexible virtual development environment for the development of ADAS, IVI, gateways, cross-domain fusion systems, and a variety of scalable systems such as body control, domain control, and area controllers.