The automotive industry has witnessed a remarkable transformation over the years, with the integration of AI paving the way for safer and more efficient automated cars. 

Blaize, the Silicon Valley company I co-founded and now run after my career at Intel, is among the key players in this domain. We stand out for our innovative approach to replacing traditional power-hungry GPU and FPGA chips. 

Through our GSP-based architecture, Blaize is championing a new era of AI-driven automotive safety, offering unprecedented efficiency advantages and a unified architecture  spanning various use cases. This blog delves into how Blaize’s advancements are driving the enhanced safety of automated cars.

AI has brought about a paradigm shift in how automated vehicles are designed and operate. Blaize, focused on revolutionizing AI-driven edge processing, is at the forefront of this evolution. Our GSP-based platform has the potential to replace power-intensive GPU and FPGA chips, significantly improving energy efficiency while providing a scalable architecture that adapts to different use cases. This transition to the Blaize proprietary purpose-built, full-stack hardware architecture and no-code software platform not only enhances the performance of automated cars but also contributes to their overall safety.

In-Cabin Safety Features

One of the critical aspects of automated cars is ensuring the safety and comfort of both drivers and passengers. 

The Blaize GSP architecture enables  various in-cabin safety features, such as driver and passenger monitoring, infotainment systems, gesture-based user interfaces, and driver experience enhancements. These features rely on low-power, high-performance processing at the edge, precisely the Blaize GSP’s strength. The efficiency and programmability of the platform make it ideal for delivering real-time insights without compromising on power consumption.

The safety of automated cars extends beyond the cabin to the vehicle’s exterior. The Blaize platform significantly benefits drive train control, monitoring, and pre-processing data from sensors like cameras, LiDAR, and radar. By rapidly processing and fusing data from these sensors, Blaize GSP contributes to faster response times and improved performance in the sensor fusion system. This is crucial for avoiding collisions, detecting obstacles, and ensuring smooth driving experiences even in complex road conditions.

Empowering Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles face intricate challenges that demand robust AI workloads. 

The Blaize platform is designed to handle these complexities,, offering high-speed object detection, lane departure warnings, forward collision path learning, and sensor fusion. 

These AI-driven functions are pivotal in ensuring the safety of autonomous vehicles. The efficiency and scalability of the Blaize GSP enable these vehicles to make split-second decisions based on real-time data, thereby reducing the risk of accidents, and improving overall road safety.

Blaize’s Edge in Automated Vehicle Safety

What sets Blaize apart is our commitment to delivering AI-driven solutions that perform efficiently and  contribute significantly to safety. By replacing power-hungry chips with our GSP architecture, customers achieve up to a 60x systems efficiency advantage. This monumental leap in efficiency ensures that AI workloads are processed effectively without straining power resources.

The full programmability of the Blaize GSP further amplifies its significance in the realm of automated vehicle safety. This flexibility allows for seamless adaptation to different platforms and dynamic workloads. As the automotive industry evolves, the fully customizable future-proofed Blaize GSP architecture enables forward and backward-compatible deployments, accommodating emerging technologies and ensuring safety standards remain paramount. I’m immensely proud of the Blaize executive team for their vital work to ensure safer  AI-automated vehicles, including Satyaki Koneru, our Chief Technology Officer; Ke Yin, our Chief Scientist and VP of Engineering; Val Cook, our Chief Software Architect; Dmitry Zakharchenko, VP of R&D, and Santiago Fernandez-Gomez, PhD., VP of Platform Engineering. They are clearly fulfilling our mission to enable our customers like Toyota and Daimler Benz to unleash the full potential of AI to the benefit of us all: AI and Beyond, with No Boundaries. 

AI’s impact on the automotive industry is undeniable, and Blaize’s AI automation solutions are playing a pivotal role in enhancing the safety of automated cars. Through our innovative GSP-based platforms, Blaize replaces power-hungry GPU and FPGA chips, revolutionizing edge processing with exceptional efficiency and scalability. From in-cabin safety features to exterior functions and the complexities of autonomous vehicles, Blaize GSP is driving the future of automotive safety.

In the ever-evolving landscape of automotive safety and innovation, Blaize AI is spearheading a revolution with its cutting-edge technologies, promising to enhance the capabilities of automated cars. As the automotive industry undergoes a transformative shift towards data and software-driven solutions, companies like Blaize are emerging as pivotal players in this new era. Tesla, a trailblazer in this realm, exemplifies the seismic changes in the automotive sector.

A recent analysis revealed that Tesla’s software business showcases this domain’s immense potential. With the growth of services and software becoming a significant slice of the revenue pie, it’s evident that the automotive industry is progressively relying on data-driven systems to shape its future.

Blaize AI’s open platform offers a lifeline to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) navigating this digital frontier. As the McKinsey report on “Unlocking the full life-cycle value from connected-car data” highlights, the true potential of connected car data is only realized when it can be harnessed effectively.

Blaize AI’s advanced capabilities enable OEMs to tap into this wealth of information, transforming it into actionable insights to enhance vehicle safety and performance.

Blaize AI’s role in enhancing automated cars is pivotal for safety and in line with the industry’s rapid transition towards data and software-centric revenue streams. 

As we witness the profound impact of companies like Tesla and the potential unlocked by connected car data, it’s clear that Blaize AI’s open platform is poised to help OEMs thrive in this data-driven automotive future.

As we move toward a world where automated vehicles become the norm, the contributions of companies like Blaize will undoubtedly make our roads safer for everyone.

Dinakar Munagala co-founded Blaize® and serves as CEO. Previously, Dinakar spent 12 years at Intel where he held pivotal roles in graphics processor micro-architecture and design and feature ownership in the mobile and graphics engineering group.