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Tesla Is Working With AMD To Develop Its Own AI Chip For Self-Driving Cars (cnbc.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Tesla is getting closer to having its own chip for handling autonomous driving tasks in its cars. The carmaker has received back samples of the first implementation of its processor and is now running tests on it, said a source familiar with the matter. The effort to build its own chip is in line with Tesla's push to be vertically integrated and decrease reliance on other companies. But Tesla isn't completely going it alone in chip development, according to the source, and will build on top of AMD intellectual property. On Wednesday Sanjay Jha, CEO of AMD spin-off GlobalFoundries, said at the company's technology conference in Santa Clara, California, that the company is working directly with Tesla. GlobalFoundries, which fabricates chips, has a wafer supply agreement in place with AMD through 2020. Tesla's silicon project is bounding ahead under the leadership of longtime chip architect Jim Keller, the head of Autopilot hardware and software since the departure of Apple veteran Chris Lattner in June. Keller, 57, joined Tesla in early 2016 following two stints at AMD and one at Apple. Keller arrived at Apple in 2008 through its acquisition of Palo Alto Semiconductor and was the designer of Apple's A4 and A5 iPhone chips, among other things. More than 50 people are working on the initiative under Keller, the source said. Tesla has brought on several AMD veterans after hiring Keller, including director Ganesh Venkataramanan, principal hardware engineer Bill McGee and system circuit design lead Dan Bailey.
There is simply no reason, given today's technology and established code base, for them to use anything but inexpensive, commodity parts for this. They quirks are well known, there are a lot of people who can code for them, and it would save a ton of money and time to market. I think this is simply a culture issue with Tesla wanting to prove that they don' need no one else, they're just THAT good, nanny nanny boo-boo. It also brings the risk of some truly epic fuck-ups that affect them and not other companies that didn't try to roll their own outside of their areas of core expertise.
According to Tom's Hardware, this story is a misunderstanding, and does not represent the actual words of the presentation.
From TH:
Some media outlets are reporting that GlobalFoundries is working with Tesla on AI technology for its cars. This erroneous report stems from a comment GloFlo's CEO Sanjay Jha made on stage on Wednesday at the fab's annual get-together in San Jose. ...
But what Jha actually said—which we can confirm because we were present to hear it firsthand—was that GlobalFoundries is trying to attract companies as business models change:
"As we develop these new technologies, we are also seeing a big shift in the business model and the foundry business. What is happening is that system companies like Google, like Amazon, like Tesla, like Microsoft, are coming directly to foundries. They are working directly with IP companies and system development companies because they want to control the hardware and software."
Global Foundries is not saying that it's working with Tesla--but that's not to say that AMD isn't working with Tesla. Jim Keller, formerly the chief architect for AMD's microprocessors, is now VP of autopilot hardware at Tesla.
Last year, AMD lost what Tesla CEO Elon Musk called a tight race against Nvidia for the auto company's GPU/AI business. Since that time, AMD has continued to show strength across multiple sectors.
The CNBC report said that its sources tied AMD and Tesla together, but neither AMD or Tesla will comment on the situation. The report indicated that Tesla was on a mission to develop its own chip for autonomous cars in order to be more vertically integrated, but that Tesla was potentially relying on building that "on top of AMD intellectual property." That particular wording certainly paints a dotted line to GlobalFoundries.
Full story at http://www.tomshardware.com/ne...
Wow, a meta topic for Slashbots to frenzy-orgy in.
Tesla and AMD. Living togethet!
If true, this reads more as "AMD all but gives away Gfx IP and ASIC services, again, for yet another 'Semi-Custom Design Win' with Tesla".
Florian Mueller predicts the (German) auto companies will become patent trolls, as the tech industry takes over autonomous car design:
http://www.fosspatents.com/201...
Are we going to see a convergence, where tech companies and auto companies team up, or a divergence, where tech companies produce the new vehicles and legacy car companies shrink into irrelevance?
The only thing I can predict with great confidence is that the cost for a replacement CPU board for a Tesla will be A Lot More than the cost of the constituent parts. (Nissan charged me $1500 for a truck wiring harness after mice chewed the insulation. It's really hard to believe that almost 6% of the cost of that truck was in the wiring harness.)
in a Tesla to run some AMD gear?
They acknowledge they donâ(TM)t have what they claim they have. Iâ(TM)m not convinced the misrepresented and badly described âAIâ(TM) that we currently have will ever be able to sufficiently replicate true human awareness (itâ(TM)s a glorified calculator. More is required for tasks like this). I know all the business people are drooling over the potential profit, but this may not come to pass in our lifetime, folks.
"given today's technology and established code base, for them to use anything but inexpensive, commodity parts for this"
This is a highly specialised application. Sometimes commodity parts are too inefficient and/or slow to be a good choice in these situations.
"there are a lot of people who can code for them"
With modern compilers being able to code for a specific chipset is less relevant. Also while there are many experienced to-the-metal assembly language coders and there are many experienced people who can code a neural net or other AI paradigm, I suspect the intersect between the two is quite small.
" I think this is simply a culture issue with Tesla wanting to prove that they don' need no one else, they're just THAT good, nanny nanny boo-boo"
No, I suspect its a business decision. And it makes a chance having a corporation who wants to build the best and not just shove out cheap consumer level shit that goes wrong after a couple of years.
Oh, and you might want to ease up on the schoolboy mocked, it doesn't add weight to your argument, it just makes you sound like an ass.
"roll their own outside of their areas of core expertise."
I think this whole discussion is certainly outside your core area of expertise.
Get a Tesla mouse pad to match your new AMD CPU. No AI included.
I was at the Global Foundries event and the keynote, no such thing was said. The Keynote recordings did not say that either, Tesla was mentioned as an example but the article is badly off base, so badly that it seems intentional. I checked with the speakers in question, other journalists, and the PR people at the show, ALL confirmed the story was not true and what was claimed to have been said was not.
-Charlie
Just more bullshit circle jerking from the faggot neckbeards to Elon MuskRAT.
This really sounds like more marketing/media hype that doesn't know what the hell it's talking about, even graded on the scale of the usual clueless, inaccurate so-called 'AI' marketing/media hype. How the hell do you have an 'AI chip' when we don't have anything like actual 'AI' to start with? Also how the hell do you have a 'self driving car chip' when the technology realisitically isn't even really close to ready for the general public? I think the 'translation' of this 'story' is this: They're getting some proprietary version of an otherwise garden-variety CPU or SoC; in other words, 'Nothing to see here'.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
..No drivers!