This new standardized, pre-integrated computing platform is designed to accelerate chip development, reduce development costs, and provide scalable software to driveAIdefined vehicles
Suraj Gajendra
ArmVice President of Products and Solutions, Automotive Division
In the automotive industry, vehicles are becoming increasingly intelligent and interconnected, defined by artificial intelligence (AI) . Features that were previously only deployed in high-end models, such as real-time driver monitoring, predictive maintenance, and adaptive in-vehicle infotainment systems (IVI) , are now rapidly becoming standard equipment in new models. At the same time, automotive development is becoming more complex, with tighter schedules and evolving safety standards, leading to higher demands for scalable computing capabilities.
OEMs and chip suppliers need a modular, safety-capable, software-ready computing platform that combines high performance and energy efficiency while reducing integration risks and shortening development times for various vehicle models.
Almost all OEMs worldwide benefit fromArm‘s foundational technology. Given this advantage,Arm has launched a computing platform specifically designed for the next generation of vehicles (i.e., AI-defined vehicles) — the Arm Zena Compute Subsystem (CSS).
The newly integrated CSS will shorten chip development cycles
The first generation ofZena CSS is a standardized, pre-integrated, pre-validated computing platform based on the latest market-validatedArmv9 Automotive Enhanced (AE) technology. This computing platform combines low power, high performance, and provenIP, along with dedicated security islands and runtime security engines, plus reference firmware and software support, forming a completeCSS for chip implementation. This comprehensive solution allows OEMs to act faster from concept to mass production, reducing costs and risks while creating a more differentiated and intelligent driving experience.
The typical automotive development cycle lasts three to five years, whileZena CSS can significantly shorten the delivery process of automotive hardware and software. As the automotive industry moves towardsAI defined vehicles, intelligence will be distributed across different areas, and features and workloads can be executed at the edge through wireless updates (OTA). Zena CSS provides a unified computing foundation with scalability and security capabilities, empowering OEMs to maintain their pace of innovation and achieve large-scale implementation of innovations.
The various subsystems of Zena CSS include the following components and features:
·High-performance computing powered by a cluster of16 cores of Arm Cortex-A720AE CPU;
·CPU consistency and inter-chipI/O connectivity provided byCMN S3AE;
·A security island for real-time processing usingArm Cortex-R82AE;
·A runtime security engine for secureOTA updates;
·System-level security and root of trust enabled byArm TrustZone;
·ValidatedRTL designs and reference firmware;
·Optional integration of graphics processing units(GPU) and image signal processing(ISP) driven byArm Mali GPU andMali-C720AE;
·Support for easy integration of accelerators and partner-specific logic components to meet the increasingly diverse workload demands of advancedAI system-on-chip(SoC) designs.
Compared to starting chip design fromIP, Zena CSS pre-integrates hardware and firmware components, potentially shortening the chip development cycle by up to12 months. Zena CSS can also extend applications toIVI, central computing, andL2+ advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), allowing OEMs to flexibly deploy across various vehicle series and performance tiers without redesigning the computing stack or starting safety certification from scratch. Additionally, the Arm computing architecture, which spans the automotive ecosystem, enables OEMs to reuse and port many components of their software across different vendors’ Zena CSS-basedSoCs, including firmware, middleware, operating systems, applications, and more.
Reducing Overall Vehicle Development Costs and Complexity
Zena CSS helps reduce both upfront and ongoing engineering burdens. This is especially important for the time-sensitive and feature-rich automotive industry.
·Compared to traditional chip design based onIP ,Zena CSS can reduce chip engineering workload by up to20% of the chip engineering workload, allowing teams to focus on developing differentiated features forAI defined vehicle workloads;
·Through software standardization, it can reduce cross-platform porting workload by up to30% of the cross-platform porting workload, saving software development time and costs.
These benefits can lower the total cost of developing an overall vehicle platform, while the consistentArm architecture provides scalability acrossADAS, central computing, andIVI use cases, applicable to both single-chip and chiplet-based(chiplet) chip designs.
Widely Trusted in the Industry, Built for Functional Safety
The latestArm AE technology with built-in safety features has been widely deployed in the automotive market. On this basis,Zena CSS integrates dedicated safety hardware such as security islands and runtime security engines within its subsystems. These safety-capable, pre-validated hardware components are architecturally connected to the main computing core cluster ofZena CSS, enabling secure boot and supporting features such as fault detection and management, while also helping to reduce costs and shorten certification processes.
By integrating a security island driven byCortex-R82AE, Zena CSS can be widely deployed in safety-critical use cases, including ADAS and domain controllers. At the same time, the software ecosystem can innovate and differentiate on this mature and secure foundation. Meanwhile,Zena CSS also supports software reuse and porting, accelerating deployment processes.
Achieving Early Development and Faster Completion through Arm Technology-Based Virtual Platforms
Following last year’s launch of a virtual platform focused onIP,Cadence,Siemens, andSynopsys have once again introduced a virtual platform supporting the computing subsystem level ofZena CSS. The new virtual platform has been proven to enable smoother integration and accelerate time-to-market, especially in safety-critical areas. This allows engineering teams to perform hardware-software co-design and validation early without waiting for physical chips, potentially shortening development cycles by up to two years. ForAI defined vehicles, developers can validateAI workloads and edge-side inference behavior in a real simulation environment through the virtual platform.
By combiningRTL simulation with virtual platforms, OEMs can build confidence in theZena CSS computing architecture before the chip is ready, effectively reducing risks and costs. Meanwhile, theArmv9 architecture’s instruction set architecture (ISA) spans from cloud to edge, allowing software testing to be conducted in the cloud before actual deployment in vehicles, thereby accelerating chip and software solution development and validation.
Fully Integrated Standardized Firmware andSOAFEE Blueprint
The design intent ofZena CSS is to support open, scalable software development to accommodate modern and future automotive applications.Arm is opening the reference firmware ofZena CSS to the entire ecosystem, and every component, including security features, has been pre-validated and fully integrated.
Zena CSS closely aligns withSOAFEE (Scalable Open Architecture for Embedded Edge), which has developed multiple blueprint projects applicable to real automotive scenarios, including the Autoware Open AD Kit blueprint project promoting autonomous driving features, the latest blueprint project designed by DENSO for mixed-criticality safety requirements, and the blueprint project designed by Panasonic Automotive Systems for developing and deploying digital cockpit andIVI solutions.
Thanks toArm SystemReady (Arm’s certification and compliance program) and other industry standardAPIs, theseSOAFEE blueprint projects can run seamlessly onZena CSS, providing OEMs with true flexibility in software decisions. In fact, the new automotive extension ofArm SystemReady will be fully open to the ecosystem by the end of2025, ensuring that operating systems and software stacks for automotive applications can run seamlessly on different hardware.
By providing standardized firmware and software based onZena CSS, Arm can offer a full-stack
solution, enabling the software ecosystem to build and create differentiated applications in the automotive market while supporting software reuse and porting to accelerate cross-platform application and feature deployment. Through this pre-built ecosystem forZena CSS, Arm is committed to helping all automotive partners achieve their goals more easily and reduce risks, withSOAFEE playing a key role in this ecosystem.
Designed for the Future ofAI Defined Vehicles
The transformation towardsAI defined vehicles is underway. From real-time sensor fusion to natural language processing in the cabin,AI has become a core capability across various automotive domains. However, new challenges accompany the development of these intelligent features, including heterogeneous computing demands, real-time inference at the edge, and ongoing large-scale updates driven byAI and software.
Vehicles are no longer defined solely by hardware but are shaped by intelligent systems that can learn, adapt, and improve over time.Zena CSS was born for this transformation, capable of achieving scalable performance, commercial differentiation, simplified integration, and supporting software portability to meet the arrival of theAI defined vehicle era. With a rich partner ecosystem, virtual platform, and support for open standards,Zena CSS provides the foundation for accelerating industry development and scaling the delivery of smarter vehicles.
The future of vehicles is defined byAI, andArm is the cornerstone of automotive computing platforms.