Pegatron Corp (和碩), which assembles electronics from Apple Inc’s iPhones to Sony Corp’s game consoles, yesterday showcased its latest electronic car cockpit that integrates infotainment, instrument clusters and information displays as part of its efforts to expand into the automotive electronics sector.
Automotive is one of the company’s core businesses, in addition to notebooks and Internet of Things applications, Pegatron said, adding that it focuses on enhancing its technological capabilities in the three areas.
“It is becoming a trend for vehicles to be equipped with all-digital cockpits. Almost all functions will be done through displays,” Pegatron chief technology officer Steven Huang (黃中于) told a media briefing yesterday. “This is a revolution for the automotive industry.”
Photo: CNA
The electronic cockpit is the latest advance after Pegatron spent several years on the research and development of automotive electronics, he said.
The cockpit integrates a navigation system with heads-up displays, but lacks advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which would be supplied by automakers.
Pegatron said it is developing its own ADAS technology as well.
The cockpit is ready, but it needs to pass certification before shipment, the company said, without disclosing when the product would be released.
“We are not in hurry,” Pegatron chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) said. “Automotive is a different sector compared with small electronics. It has longer product cycles... Some European automakers launch only one new model in seven or eight years.”
It takes time to obtain certification from automakers, Tung said, adding that the product will also match automaker’s new road maps.
Separately, Huang yesterday commented on Microsoft Corp’s newly announced cooperation with Qualcomm Inc to sell Windows 10 laptops running on Qualcomm’s mobile processor that is based on ARM Holdings PLC’s design.
All laptops on the global market are powered by Intel Corp’s processors.
Qualcomm’s processor delivers better thermal management, but its performance lags Intel’s, Tung said.
“We will spend half a year to observe the adoption” of the new model, Huang said, given Microsoft’s failure to push Windows RT in 2012.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
STIMULUS PLANS: An official said that China would increase funding from special treasury bonds and expand another program focused on key strategic sectors China is to sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds this year to spur business investment and consumer-boosting initiatives, a state planner official told a news conference yesterday, as Beijing cranks up fiscal stimulus to revitalize its faltering economy. Special treasury bonds would be used to fund large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, said Yuan Da (袁達), deputy secretary-general of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission. “The size of ultra-long special government bond funds will be sharply increased this year to intensify and expand the implementation of the two new initiatives,” Yuan said. Under the program launched last year, consumers can
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
RSS