Intel Ventures into Automotive AI: Bringing AI-Infused PCs to Cars and Electric Vehicles

Intel is set to extend its “AI Everywhere” initiative into the automotive market, with plans to introduce AI-powered PCs to cars and electric vehicles (EVs). 


As part of this strategy, Intel is acquiring Silicon Mobility, a fabless silicon and software company specializing in System-on-Chips (SoCs) for intelligent EV energy management. 


The company has also unveiled a new family of AI-enhanced software-defined vehicle SoCs, with Chinese firm Zeekr as the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to adopt these chips to deliver generative AI-driven experiences in next-generation cars.


Jack Weast, Vice President and General Manager of Intel Automotive stated, “Intel is taking a ‘whole vehicle’ approach to solving the industry’s biggest challenges. 


Driving innovative AI solutions across the vehicle platform will help the industry navigate the transformation to EVs.” The acquisition of Silicon Mobility aligns with Intel’s sustainability goals and addresses the industry’s critical need for energy management.


The new family of AI-enhanced SoCs addresses the industry’s demand for power and performance scalability. These chips feature AI acceleration capabilities from Intel’s AI PC roadmap, enabling desirable in-vehicle AI use cases such as driver and passenger monitoring. 


In a demonstration, 12 advanced workloads, including generative AI, e-mirrors, high-definition video conference calling, and PC games, ran concurrently across multiple operating systems, showcasing how automakers can consolidate legacy electronic control unit (ECU) architecture for improved efficiency, manageability, and scalability.


This integration also allows for the incorporation of custom solutions and AI applications.


Weast highlighted that Intel’s AI-enhanced SDV SoCs combine the strengths of AI PC and Intel data centre technologies, supporting an authentic software-defined vehicle architecture. 


Additionally, Intel intends to collaborate with R&D hub imec to ensure that its advanced chipset packaging technologies meet the stringent quality and reliability requirements for automotive use cases.