On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at CES, Intel unveiled the Adaptive Control Unit (ACU), which is intended for use in zonal controller applications and electric vehicle (EV) power trains. Multiple real-time, safety-critical, and cybersecure functions, applications, and domains (X-in-1) can be combined onto a single chip utilizing the ACU U310, a novel type of processor unit. Intel Corporation is credited.
Intel announced new alliances and a broader range of products at CES that may hasten automakers’ shift to electrified and software-defined vehicles (SDVs).
In addition to the Intel® Automotive Virtual Design Environment (VDE), which was co-developed with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Intel now provides a whole-vehicle platform that includes high-performance computing, discrete graphics, artificial intelligence (AI), power management, and zonal controller solutions.
The cost and performance scalability issues faced by automakers are addressed by Intel’s strategy, allowing for quicker, more effective, and more lucrative SDV development and implementation.
Why a Whole-Vehicle Platform Matters: Intel’s whole-vehicle platform reduces inefficiencies of traditional fragmented approaches to vehicle architectures. By optimizing the entire vehicle’s electrical/electronic architecture, Intel drives significant cost reductions and performance improvements.
Supporting this platform, Intel introduced the availability of the Adaptive Control Unit (ACU), designed for electric vehicle (EV) power trains and zonal controller applications.
About the Adaptive Control Unit: Multiple real-time, safety-critical, and cybersecure functions, applications, and domains (X-in-1) can be combined onto a single chip utilizing the ACU U310, a novel type of processor unit.
Due to their limited deterministic processing capabilities, traditional micro and zonal controllers focused on time and sequential processing find it difficult to manage different workloads.
Even when combining several microcontroller workloads into a single zonal MCU, Intel’s new family of ACU devices incorporates a flexible logic area that relieves the CPU cores of real-time control algorithms, guaranteeing dependable performance, freedom from interference (FFI), and deterministic data delivery. More task consolidation is made possible by this dual-brain strategy, which also reduces costs and improves performance, safety, and cybersecurity.
By dynamically adjusting high voltage and control frequencies to different driver styles and road conditions, the ACU U310 provides sophisticated algorithmic solutions that lower the vehicle’s energy demand from the battery when utilized in an electric vehicle power train. By enabling the vehicle to recover up to 40% of the energy losses in the power train system, the ACU lowers cost per kilowatt and improves energy efficiency, providing a 3% to 5% efficiency increase during the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP).
Compared to conventional methods, this results in a far lower per-vehicle bill of materials (BOM), electric motor size, and battery prices, as well as more range, quicker charging, and a more responsive driving experience.
In order to improve performance and efficiency in competitive racing settings, Stellantis Motorsports has chosen Intel as a key technology partner and is incorporating Adaptive Control technology into their next-generation inverter control.
The electric motor will be controlled by the Intel technology in this application, which will also recover energy during braking phases. In a Formula E race, when any efficiency gain is converted into a valuable competitive advantage, the inverter is an essential component.
By displaying an Intel co-branded inverter with Optimal Pulse Pattern control algorithms to increase efficiency and enable four distinct driving profiles, including cutting-edge features like Torque Ripple Reduction and Range Boost, Karma Automotive announced support for Intel’s ACU.
The ACU’s programmability allows it to serve as a first-of-its-kind software-defined zonal controller, adapting to different vehicle topologies and applications. This flexibility streamlines the transition to software-defined vehicles, simplifies supply chains and reduces the complexity of the vehicle BOM.
How Next-Gen Architecture is Enhanced with AI Inside: Intel revealed the next generation of Intel® ArcTM B-series Graphics for Automotive, which will be in production by the end of 2025 and build upon the company’s first generation AI-enhanced SDV system-on-chips (SoCs).
This system offers the high-performance computing required for next-generation human-machine interface (HMI) engines, immersive in-car experiences, AAA PC gaming, and more complex in-car AI workloads. It provides scalable performance for intricate AI workloads when paired with an Intel AI-enhanced SDV SoC, backed by the extensive Intel AI ecosystem.
How Intel and AWS Revolutionize Automotive Software Development: Intel and AWS introduced the Intel Automotive Virtual Development Environment on AWS, a groundbreaking approach that ensures true hardware and software parity from cloud to car.
This new offering addresses challenges throughout the vehicle development life cycle, enabling engineers to seamlessly switch between virtual and physical hardware setups.
It integrates Intel® Xeon® processor-based Amazon EC2 instances and, for the first time, incorporates Intel’s Automotive SDV SoCs within the AWS environment, eliminating the need for expensive electronic control unit (ECU) simulators or developer boards. This collaboration provides a unified solution that accelerates innovation, reduces R&D costs and speeds time-to-market.
About Intel’s System-Level Advantage: Intel’s whole-vehicle approach delivers numerous benefits to automakers, including cost reductions, enhanced vehicle performance, streamlined development, improved energy efficiency, seamless AI integration and faster time-to-market – all supported by Intel’s globally balanced supply chain.
Key Comments
“Intel automotive is bringing innovative solutions that reduce cost in the SDV revolution. Our whole-vehicle approach, combined with cloud integration, delivers a complete solution that drives down total cost of development and deployment while empowering automakers to build the future of mobility faster, more efficiently and more profitably.”
— Jack Weast, Intel Fellow, vice president and general manager of Intel Automotive
More: Intel at CES 2025 | Intel Auto Keynote Explores Software-Defined Future (Video)
