Black Sesame Technologies has been recognized by CIOReview Magazine as the recipient of “Top 20 Automotive Technology Companies - 2019,” based on our proprietary methodology, reflecting its position in the industry. This profile has been developed by the CIOReview research and editorial team based on insights from an interview with Charles Qi, VP, SoC Architecture.

Black Sesame Technologies
Ensuring Safety in Innovation

Charles Qi, VP, SoC Architecture

Sitting in the backseat of an autonomous vehicle, looking out of the window, and enjoying the journey—it is indeed a fascinating thought. However, it comes to a halt when one considers the gray areas in safety. From an engineering standpoint, the first step toward the safe functioning of an autonomous vehicle is an efficient perception system design. Much like the driver’s eyes and ears, perception capabilities gives the autonomous vehicle the ability to detect and track all moving and static objects, and extract relevant data from its immediate surroundings. With a number of service providers and seemingly endless options of sensor systems available today, choosing the optimal system for autonomous vehicle application becomes a tedious task. Black Sesame Technologies (BST) provides a complete visual perception solution, based on an embedded visual perception platform, which integrates image processing, artificial intelligence, and computational imaging for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and autonomous driving. “Our core mission is to become the leading autonomous driving platform provider and offer an ubiquitous perception platform for self-driving vehicles,” asserts Charles Qi, VP, SoC Architecture at Black Sesame Technologies.

Part of the reason that perception accuracy is not satisfying, may be attributed to the complex operating conditions of camera sensors—such as lighting, whether and vehicle motion—which drastically affect the captured raw image data. Without properly enhancing the image quality, even the most advanced AI perception would fail to recover information fully. As a digital image processing, computer vision and AI technology firm that creates solutions for real-world challenges, BST takes a wholistic approach to design the perception pipeline. It provides automotive grade high-resolution HDR sensors support with light-control in sensor module design. BST can also integrate high-performance automotive ISP pipelines with HDR and low-light support. The company delivers advanced AI neural network architecture training for autonomous driving with challenging scenes and use cases, and it can optimize and integrate advanced algorithms to a high-performance ASIC.

The company focuses on level 3 (L3) and above autonomous driving System on a Chip (SoC) design and has built its SoC as a sensing platform enabled by core image sensing, computer vision, and AI algorithms developed in house and by its partners/ customers. By taking a holistic approach to design silicon chips, BST specializes in co-designing industrial AI solutions from the chip level to its application, following ISO-26262 standard.

Our core mission is to become the leading autonomous driving platform provider and offer an ubiquitous perception platform for self-driving vehicles

“We take the entire sensing platform pipeline, and after considering the sensory input, optimize the image quality and perception processing and put it in a single silicon chip.We aim to provide both, performance in sensing accuracy and performance in computation capacity on a single device, as needed for an automotive platform,” explains Qi.

Being experts in chip design and AI application engineering, the company undertakes core RnD functions, including core algorithm development, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design, software system, and ADAS engineering application. BST offers its customers high quality, reliable technology and applications through its team expertise and sensor selection, sensor image processing, pipeline optimization, and the perception algorithm.

BST has developed in-vehicle monitoring systems with facial recognition capability, which monitors driver fatigue and bad driving behavior.. The driving monitoring solution has gained traction in industries like insurance and fleet management, and it aims to improve this feature in L3 autonomous driving systems.“We are taking mature L2 driver monitoring system product we developed and extending into L3 driver monitoring system. By further morphing it into broad range of in-vehicle monitoring application deployable in ride-sharing, public transportation etc. fields, we are leveraging our algorithm knowhow to expand our market share. Those are the directions that we are trying to expand into because of their synergy we can bring in with the existing driving monitoring capabilities,” states Qi.

For the future, the company plans to enhance its total technology by adding adjacent capabilities such as sensor fusion, localization, and mapping technology, to develop autonomous vehicle capabilities.

Black Sesame Technologies

Black Sesame Technologies Files for Hong Kong IPO

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Chinese automotive chip maker Black Sesame Technologies has submitted its application for an initial public offering to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as disclosed on June 30. China International Capital Corporation (中金公司) and Huatai International（华泰金融控股）are appointed as joint sponsors for the IPO.

Black Sesame Technologies aims to allocate the funds raised through the fundraising to support the advancement of high-quality System-on-Chips (SoCs) for smart vehicle specifications, smart car software platforms, self-driving solutions, and enhance its commercialization capabilities.

Established in 2016 and headquartered in Shanghai, Black Sesame Technologies specializes in delivering automotive-grade intelligent computing System-on-Chips (SoCs) and associated solutions. It has been an early innovator in the domain of autonomous driving chip technology. The company has expressed its intent to procure 15 vehicle models from 10 prominent automakers and Tier 1 suppliers. Additionally, it has cultivated partnerships with more than 30 such entities, including FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor, JAC Group, HYCAN, ECARX, Baidu, and Bosch.

Frost & Sullivan's analysis of the competitive landscape reveals that, based on the 2022 shipment volumes, Black Sesame Technologies is projected to dispatch approximately 350,000 and 380,000 high-performance SoCs in China and globally, respectively. These figures position the company as the third-largest provider in both the Chinese and global markets, with corresponding market shares of 5.2% and 4.8%. This places them second only to industry leaders NVIDIA and Horizon.

With a track record of nine successful rounds of financing, Black Sesame Technologies achieved a valuation surpassing USD 2 billion by August 2022. Its investor portfolio includes esteemed participants such as Dongfeng Asset, SAIC Group, Wingtech, Nio Capital, SK China, Xiaomi Changjiang Industry Fund, China Automotive Chips Alliance, and Beyond Capital, as well as Summitview Capital, YZIG, SL Capital, NLVC, ENO Capital, and other financial entities.

Black Sesame Technologies asserts that it has maintained a pioneering role in China's intelligent driving sector during the ongoing revolution within the automotive industry. By attaining significant-scale production of its SoCs and continually improving its solutions through iterative upgrades, the company is strategically positioned to capitalize on extensive market opportunities and achieve robust growth in the foreseeable future.

Black Sesame Technologies Unveils Innovative Autonomous Driving Solutions at CES 2024

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

LAS VEGAS,: Black Sesame Technologies, a leading intelligent vehicle SoC and solution provider, revealed a range of innovative products and solutions at CES 2024. Notably, the company introduced its high-performance, automotive-grade autonomous driving chip, the Huashan Series A1000, and the intelligent vehicle cross-domain computing platform, the Wudang C1200 Series. The event also marked the announcement of numerous strategic partnerships, fostering the growth of robust, collaborative ecosystems in the automotive sector.

The Huashan Series A1000 Accelerates the Commercialization of Autonomous Driving

The Huashan A1000 chip has been recognized as China's first automotive-grade, single-SoC platform capable of supporting a single domain controller for both driving and parking. It has emerged as the most mature and widely used autonomous driving computing chip in the domestic market. Now in widespread mass production, the A1000 is featured in vehicles from China's foremost automakers, including FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor Corporation, Geely Holding Group and JAC Group, powering, among others, the popular Lynk & Co 08 and Hycan V09 models. At CES, Black Sesame Technologies highlighted the A1000's broad range of capabilities, showcasing features such as integrated driving and parking, urban navigation, valet parking, 3D surround-view parking assistance, vehicle-road cooperation, and driver monitoring systems.

The intelligent vehicle solutions leader has established a comprehensive and mature mass-production ecosystem centered around the Huashan-2 A1000 chip. The ecosystem encompasses domain controllers, an operating system, middleware, higher-layer application algorithms, and a scenario iteration platform designed for algorithmic enhancements. The framework is designed to further expedite the commercialization process for automakers and Tier 1 suppliers.

Furthermore, the Huashan-2 A1000 is the first domestically produced autonomous driving computing chip to utilize the BlackBerry QNX operating system in mass production. This integration offers an industry-leading advanced intelligent driving solution that delivers excellence in performance, security, and reliability. Notably, the Skyland series of intelligent driving computing platforms, developed by ECARX using the A1000 chip, will be featured in a demo video at CES.

The Wudang C1200 Series: Revolutionizing Vehicle Computing with "All-in-One" Chip

Black Sesame Technologies has been a trailblazer in cross-domain convergence within the automotive sector and was the first to conceptualize and launch such a chip. The Wudang C1200 series, sets a global industry benchmark, especially in China, outperforming others in various key metrics. With the industry's highest MCU integrated computational power and built-in 10 Gigabit network hardware acceleration capabilities, the chip empowers customers to integrate a broader array of intelligent functions into a single vehicle.This time, Black Sesame Technologies officially unveiled the mass-produced chip models of the C1200 family at CES 2024, including Wudang Series C1236 supporting single-chip NOA solution and Wudang Series C1296 supporting single-chip integrated intelligent scenarios of multi domain.

Visitors to CES 2024 are invited to experience Black Sesame Technologies booth, where the capabilities of the Wudang C1200 series' multifaceted capabilities are on full display, including an integrated driving and parking platform, a 6V Bird's Eye View(BEV) sensor, vehicle data exchange, hard isolation and GPU rendering. The C1200 series excels in managing high-speed and low-speed data exchanges within vehicles, simultaneously reducing the number of system devices required. Moreover, the chip significantly boosts software reuse and enhances the overall security of vehicle systems.

Enhancing efficiency with a comprehensive development toolchain

At the heart of Black Sesame Technologies' strategy is an acute awareness of the synergy between software and hardware. By offering a combined "chip + development toolchain" model, the company assists its customers in boosting R&D efficiency, reducing overall expenses, and hastening the journey to mass production.

The sophistication and complexity of the toolchain and software are key indicators of an autonomous driving chip's user-friendliness. Black Sesame Technologies Shanhai development toolchain, in conjunction with the Huashan series of autonomous driving computing chips, comes equipped with comprehensive development kits and software tools needed for algorithm development. These tools cover the entire spectrum of model development, including quantification, optimization, compilation, simulation, deployment and debugging. Additionally, the toolchain, by incorporating all possible scenarios into a deep learning reference model library, substantially lowers the barriers to algorithm development, aiding customers in achieving flexible model migration, deployment and integration.

Black Sesame Technologies is dedicated to unlocking new opportunities for industry chain partners and the broader ecosystem through continuous chip innovation and technological advancement. The company is eager to collaborate with an expanding network of ecosystem partners to foster mutual growth and shared success, aiming to create greater value for the entire industry.

Top 20 Automotive Technology Companies - 2019

Company
Black Sesame Technologies

Management
Charles Qi, VP, SoC Architecture

Description
The company provides a complete visual perception solution, based on an embedded visual perception platform integrating image processing, artificial intelligence, and computational imaging, for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. BST develops algorithms for computational imaging, machine vision, such as camera array solutions for mobile devices, vision perception system for ADAS and autonomous drive and algorithm for sensors fusion. As an AI digital imaging technology firm that creates solutions for real-world AI challenges, the company offers solutions for image processing, computing images, and embedded sensing platforms

Black Sesame Technologies Ensuring Safety in Innovation