Intel Atom chips looking to smarten up cars

Intel looks to push into the connected car market with the launch of its latest end-to-end platform.

The Intel In-Vehicle platform is designed for car manufacturers and the chipmaker claims it provides the computing power needed to give vehicles autonomous control.

Intel provides a developer kit consisting of the Intel Atom E38 series processor, which is designed to meet automotive specifications. It runs the Tizen IVI operating system and incorporates a significant number of features from the open source Genivi platform.

The chipmaker claims its in-car kit will help car manufacturers reduce development time by up to 12 months and save up to 50 per cent because of the end-to-end integration.

Once packaged by car makers, user-facing systems will be able to provide drivers with a personalised in-car experience and make driving safer.

When drivers and passengers get into a car, the system will be able to authenticate them via a mobile device and tailor multimedia to them. The car will also know the destination of a journey and be able to re-route based on real-time circumstances, explained Doug Davis, EVP of Intel's Internet of Things group.

"We need to have the capability to inform the driver about things that are happening around him/her, to provide some assistance," Davis said during a briefing.

"We know the majority of accidents are caused by drivers and as we can understand what happens we can reduce this."

BMW, Hyundai, Infiniti are all signed up to use Intel inside their cars and other manufacturers will be announced over the coming year.

Intel's eventual goal is to push the use of augmented reality, whereby bike lanes are highlighted to drivers via overlays, and sensors help to point out dangerous obstacles and minimise blind spots. Davis was also confident that Intel chips are ideal when it comes to dealing with the compute needs of self-driving cars.