Automobiles will soon join the AI revolution, with potentially industry-shattering technologies. From the car’s infotainment to the driver assistance systems, AI will enable a personalized, cloud-connected experience that should improve safety and well-being for the driver and passengers.
Still, automakers face long, expensive development cycles, which slow down delivery of AI innovations. That’s where Arm’s Zena Compute Subsystems (CSS) steps in. Using this this new platform, carmakers can bring AI-defined vehicles to market at least one year sooner than before. A pretty big deal.
Zena CSS is a pre-verified, safety-capable platform that gives OEMs and chipmakers a massive head start. It allows them to begin software development even before the silicon is ready — dramatically speeding up innovation.
It’s more than just faster timelines. Arm estimates Zena CSS cuts silicon engineering time by 20%, slashing both cost and complexity. This is especially critical in today’s automotive landscape. From ADAS to voice-controlled cabins, tomorrow’s cars need to be smarter, safer, and more connected. Zena CSS makes that future a reality – faster.
At its core, Zena CSS runs on Armv9 AE technology and features 16 Cortex-A720AE cores, optimized for both driver assistance and infotainment tasks. It includes a real-time safety island powered by Cortex-R82AE, a Hardware Root of Trust, and chip-to-chip coherency via CMN S3AE.
There’s also support for Mali GPUs and ISPs for advanced use cases like surround view and driver monitoring. It’s powerful, flexible, and ready for anything. Importantly, this standardized platform allows OEMs to reuse software and architecture across vehicle lines, simplifying safety and security certifications. That’s typically a major hurdle – now drastically reduced. In short, it unlocks speed, scale, and adaptability.
And the industry is taking note. Leading OEMs, including major EV makers, have already licensed or are testing Zena CSS. Analysts expect most automakers to follow. What’s more, developers don’t need to wait. Thanks to support from AWS, Cadence, Siemens, and Synopsys, software teams can start building and testing on cloud-based virtual platforms — potentially cutting software development cycles by up to two years.
Backed by more than 150 industry partners, including General Motors, CARIAD, and Continental, Zena CSS is built on open standards like AUTOSAR, eSync, and SOAFEE.
