Renesas Introduces V4M to Expand 7nm ADAS Chip Family

Renesas Electronics has recently announced the expansion of its R-Car Family of system-on-chips (SoCs) to cater to the growing demand for entry-level Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). The new Renesas R-Car V4M series is specifically designed to provide AI processing for entry-level, cost-sensitive ADAS applications such as front smart camera systems, surround-view systems, automatic parking, and driver monitoring systems.

The V4M series utilizes the same 7nm manufacturing process technology as the R-Car V4H series, offering 17TOPS of AI performance for high-speed image processing and precise object recognition using on-board cameras, radar, and LiDAR. This advancement positions the V4M at the forefront of ADAS technology, providing pin compatibility within the same series and software compatibility with existing R-Car products. This compatibility allows OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers to reuse existing software and reduce engineering costs.

With a track record of shipping over 450 million automotive-grade R-Car devices, including those meeting ASIL D quality rating, Renesas has established itself as a trusted provider in the automotive industry. The R-Car V4M and R-Car V4H series boast up to four ARM Cortex-A76 cores delivering up to 81K DMIPS performance for application processing, along with three ARM Cortex-R52 lockstep cores providing up to 25K DMIPS performance for real-time operation.

In addition to the powerful processing capabilities, the devices feature dedicated deep learning and computer vision IP, a 3D Graphic processor Unit (GPU), an Image Signal Processor (ISP) with parallel processing, and an Image renderer (IMR) for various operations, all while maintaining lower power consumption. The R-Car V4M offers impressive performance efficiency, consuming around 5W in a typical full-feature smart camera with an 8-megapixel sensor, which is half that of other devices.

Furthermore, the chips support an expandable memory size AUTOSAR software partition and come equipped with CAN, Ethernet AVB, TSN, and FlexRay interfaces. The bill of materials (BoM) is optimized for NCAP, GSR2, L2+ with a single chip SoC without external MCUs, showcasing Renesas' commitment to providing comprehensive solutions for automotive applications.