ETRI Develops Aldebaran5 – ANext-Gen Autonomous Vehicle Computing Platform in a Single Chip

The Processor Research Group at ETRI announces development of a processor for self-driving cars dubbed as Aldebaran5. Aldebaran5 is touted to feature 9 cores to provide high computing power as well as safety mechanisms to ensure reliability for automotive applications, while exhibiting industry leading power efficiency (~1 watt) and a tiny form factor (smaller than the size of a nail head.)
Code named Aldebaran5 after the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus, the chip is a significantly upgraded version of its predecessor. Nine cores provide ample computing power, 4 of which are dynamically programmable to operate for performance or for reliability. Safety features adhering to international standards ensure reliability with 99% detection coverage of faults and malfunctions and includes recovery mechanisms to mitigate potential negative effects.
Dedicated custom-designed acceleration circuitry for image recognition and HEVC (high efficiency video coding) as well as CAN bus communication hardware and an image signal processor (ISP) are integrated into the SoC, all combining to provide a robust and streamlined computing platform designed for autonomous vehicle applications.
Research and development to integrate neural network acceleration hardware in order to provide artificial intelligence capabilities are near completion and expected to be announced within the year.
Key Applications Include

A wide range of applications have been demonstrated on Aldebaran5 attesting to a powerful, efficient, robust, yet reliable computing platform tailor-made for autonomous vehicle applications. These include real time pedestrian and vehicle recognition, lane detection/warning/keeping system, ultra high definition black box functionality (dash cam), interfacing and processing of various sensor data (radar, GPS, etc) and vehicle maneuvering via CAN bus control, among others.
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