For an upcoming range of EVs with advanced AI power and efficiency, Honda and Renesas have joined hands to develop a high-performance system-on-chip.
Honda Motor Company Limited and Renesas Electronics Corporation have announced a partnership to develop a high-performance system-on-chip (SoC) tailored for software-defined vehicles (SDVs).
This collaboration was revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 event in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
The new SoC, which promises to deliver advanced artificial intelligence (AI) performance of 2000 TOPS (tera operations per second) with power efficiency of 20 TOPS/W, will be implemented in future models of Honda’s upcoming ‘Honda 0 (Zero) Series’ electric vehicles (EVs), expected to launch soon.
The Honda 0 Series will feature a centralised electrical and electronic (E/E) architecture, consolidating various electronic control units (ECUs) into one core ECU.
This core ECU will manage key vehicle functions, such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), automated driving (AD), powertrain control, and comfort features, all through a single ECU. Achieving this requires an SoC with superior processing power and minimal power consumption.
Renesas will utilise its expertise in automotive semiconductor solutions, integrating AI accelerators into its SoC, using multi-die chiplet technology. This approach combines Renesas’ fifth-generation R-Car X5 SoC series with an AI accelerator tailored to Honda’s AI software.
The result is a high-performance, power-efficient system capable of supporting advanced AD functionalities while enabling future system upgrades.
According to Renesas, this partnership marks a continued collaboration, further driving the integration of advanced semiconductor and software technologies into the Honda 0 Series, ensuring a next-generation mobility experience for customers.