Company Profile

PATEO CONNECT is an industry-leading comprehensive smart cockpit and intelligent connectivity full-stack solution provider, capable of offering hardware, software and cloud services as well as integrated operations. The company's business covers all aspects of smart cockpit product R&D, production & manufacturing, and operation services. By virtue of its layout in the entire industry chain, it has become a leader in the development of smart cockpit and intelligent connectivity businesses.

It has been striving toward a central computing platform (CCP) for intelligent vehicles (IVs) with high-performance computing (HPC) units, aiming to focus on the key issues and urgent needs for development in the journey toward automotive intelligence, strengthen the coordination of resources and power of all parties, facilitate the development of IV industry, and promote the construction of a world-class IV industry ecosystem.

PATEO has been focusing on R&D investment since its inception. So far, it has applied for 5,777 patents, of which 4,773 are invention patents, accounting for approximately 82.6% of the applications. According to statistics from an authoritative consultancy, as of the end of 2023, PATEO ranked first among Chinese domestic smart cockpit and intelligent connectivity solution providers in terms of the number of registered invention patents.

Case Introduction

I. Background Introduction

As the pace of automotive intelligence accelerates, cockpits are undergoing a profound transformation from traditional driving entertainment functions to all-round intelligent experience. The trend of integration of cockpit electronics is becoming increasingly significant, promoting the centralization of domain controllers and putting forward higher requirements for computing power and resource scheduling capabilities. While committed to improving user experience, car companies and suppliers are facing the dual challenges of reducing costs and enhancing efficiency. In this context, the “PATEO – Dual (SA8155P) SoC Powered 3rd Generation Snapdragon Cockpit Platforms” solution launched by PATEO has become an eye-catching choice in the market. Compared with the Qualcomm single 8295 chip solution, this solution shows more prominent advantages in cost control, flexible allocation of computing power, and among others.

Currently, in-vehicle systems are increasingly focusing on the integration and collaborative operation of domain controllers, especially in the fields of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), infotainment system, and Internet of Vehicles (IoVs), etc., where the demand for computing power is growing rapidly. Although the Qualcomm single 8295 chip solution stands out for its excellent computing power, its high cost limits its wide application in the mid-range vehicle models. In contrast, the dual 8155 platform launched by Qualcomm, though the computing power of a single chip is not as high as that of the 8295 chip, it achieves flexible deployment of computing resources through the collaborative operation of the dual chips, which not only effectively meets the needs of high-performance computing, but also achieves optimization of cost control. This strategy not only applies to Qualcomm platforms, but also provides a model for other manufacturers with diversified product lines (including high-end and low-end SoCs) to learn from.

II. Case Overview

PATEO – Dual (SA8155P) SoC Powered 3rd Generation Snapdragon Cockpit Platforms promote seamless collaboration between multiple systems through efficient computing power distribution. Compared with solutions using a single 8295 chip, the dual-system architecture of this platform not only effectively reduces hardware investment, but also ensures high performance and high stability of the system, enabling the sharing and flexible allocation of screen display, network architecture, and multi-channel camera resources. Specifically, the master system is responsible for core tasks closely related to driving safety, such as instrument cluster information display and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), while the slave system focuses on processing heavier and more complicated graphics rendering work, such as 3D vehicle model display and driving video recorder (DVR) features, thereby achieving optimal utilization of resources and precise division of system features.

This platform has now been successfully equipped on the mid-to-high-end models of a vehicle startup and mass-produced.

III. Technological Innovation Points

1. Efficient Collaboration of Dual-System Screen Mirroring:

In the current multi-screen (including center console display, front passenger screen and rear seat entertainment screen) configuration environment of smart cockpits, PATEO has innovatively designed a dual-system architecture, which enables seamless access to and unified control of all screens, and uses leading screen mirroring technology to ensure efficient sharing and synchronization of data between the master system and the slave system. This optimization not only promotes flexible switching between functional modules, but also ensures the smoothness of the display, bringing a significantly improved experience to the user.

2. Integrated Design of Dual-System Internet Architecture:

This platform solution designs a system as the main router to be fully responsible for Internet access and efficient distribution inside and outside the vehicle. By sharing a unified network environment between the two systems, the duplication of network resources is successfully avoided, which not only significantly improves the speed and efficiency of data transmission, but also greatly enhances the collaborative operation capabilities between the two systems, ensuring that the system runs more smoothly and efficiently.

3. Intelligent Allocation of Car Camera Resources:

In response to the need for simultaneous access to multiple car cameras (covering DVR, backup camera, AVM, etc.) in the smart cockpit, this solution adopts the strategy of unified access to the master system, which is responsible for performing necessary transcoding and preprocessing work, and efficiently distributes the processed data stream to each slave system through the RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol). Using advanced virtualization technology, we enable multiple systems to share the same camera data resource pool, effectively avoiding duplication of camera hardware configuration and significantly improving resource utilization and overall system efficiency.

4. Feature Allocation and Refined Management of Computing Power:

This solution focuses the master system on core interface display and driving safety features, such as cluster display, ADAS and other key tasks; while the slave system is responsible for processing tasks that require high computing power and are not directly related to safety, such as high-precision rendering of 3D vehicle models and DVR functions. By implementing a sophisticated computing power allocation strategy, we not only ensure optimal performance of each functional module, but also significantly improve the system's flexibility and response speed, bringing the user a smoother and more efficient smart cockpit experience.

5. Dual-System Hibernation & Wakeup Collaboration:

The hibernation function of in-vehicle systems is critical to energy management and system life. In the complex context of dual system architecture, we optimized the hibernation process to ensure that the master-slave system can achieve high-precision synchronous hibernation and efficient wake-up, effectively preventing resource conflicts and unnecessary energy consumption, and placing higher requirements on system design and optimization, aiming to create an energy-saving and efficient in-vehicle system.

6. Synchronous Dual-System Upgrade:

In view of the significant increase in the complexity of software upgrade and maintenance under the dual-system architecture, ensuring consistency between the two systems, especially data synchronization and functional collaboration, has become a core challenge in the upgrade process. In order to avoid the risk of system instability or functional failure caused by improper upgrade operations, we have focused on optimizing the dual-system synchronous upgrade strategy, aiming to ensure stable operation and efficient collaboration after the system upgrade. Through sophisticated synchronization mechanisms and strict verification processes, every upgrade is ensured to be seamlessly connected.

IV. Value and Benefits of Promotion

PATEO – Dual (SA8155P) SoC Powered 3rd Generation Snapdragon Cockpit Platforms boast the following significant advantages over the single 8295 chip solution:

• Cost control: The dual 8155 solution effectively avoids the high cost of a single 8295 chip, is more in line with the needs of the mid-range market, and achieves high cost performance.

• Flexible computing power allocation: The dual-system design can easily cope with performance bottlenecks when processing a large number of concurrent tasks, significantly improving the overall operating efficiency and response speed of the system.

• Strong scalability: This solution can flexibly adjust computing power and resource configuration according to changes in functional requirements, facilitating future function upgrades and expansion.

• Wide scope of application: Applicable not only to Qualcomm platforms, but also to other SoC platforms for multi-level product lines, demonstrating good compatibility and versatility.

V. Summary

PATEO – Dual (SA8155P) SoC Powered 3rd Generation Snapdragon Cockpit Platforms bring a cost-effective and exceptional performance solution to the automotive smart cockpit field. Through reasonable allocation of computing power, seamless interconnection between dual systems and virtualization of multiple cameras, it not only demonstrates a high degree of scalability and flexibility, but also significantly reduces hardware costs and lays the foundation for market promotion.