Lifeboat Foundation

Almost exactly one year ago at CES 2023, Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon Ride Flex system-on-chip (SoC) product family. As an expansion of the company’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis product portfolio, the new SoC family is meant to support advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) as well as digital cockpit and infotainment applications spanning from entry level to premium vehicles. At the time, Qualcomm announced that the Ride Flex SoC was sampling with an expected start of production in early 2024. It’s now early 2024 and CES is about to kick off again. Tirias Research is expecting to hear an update on the product family next week. We anticipate the update will include, at the very least, some of the partners who will be bringing the Ride Flex SoCs to market in production volumes this year and into 2025. Given Qualcomm’s track record for hitting their estimated timelines, we felt that a re-cap of the product family is warranted leading up to next week’s anticipated update.

“Flex-ing” Resources to Support Mixed Criticality and Multiple Tiers

The Snapdragon Ride Flex is actually two monolithically integrated 4nm SoCs – a primary SoC and what Qualcomm are calling a Safety Island SoC. The primary SoC consists of a Kryo Gen 6 Arm v8.2 central processing unit (CPU) with integrated L3 cache, an Adreno 663 graphics processing unit (GPU), a Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU), a Spectra 690 image signal processing (ISP), two Adreno display processing units (DPUs) for multiple high-resolution display support and associated memory and I/O interconnects. This part of the SoC is Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) B certified. The Safety Island SoC, which is ASIL-D certified, consists of a multi-core real-time CPU with enhanced error managements support and isolated memory and peripherals. ASIL is a risk classification methodology established under ISO 26,262 from the International Organization for Standardization which defines functional safety for road vehicles.

The technique could lead to the creation of thinner and scalable electronic devices with enhanced performance and functionality.

A new study has revealed a surprising source of bird mortality due to the increasing use of wind and solar energy facilities.

Unveil the proximity in Hubble’s cosmic snapshot showcasing the challenges of interpreting cosmic distances in two-dimensional space.

Explore the Hubble Space Telescope’s cosmic portrait, revealing proximities between galaxies and challenging perceptions of cosmic distances.

A new study shows that cannabis can make exercise more enjoyable, but also more effortful, depending on the type and the person.

The technique of inhaling nanoparticle sensors followed by a urine test may offer the potential for faster and early detection of lung cancer.

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have introduced this cutting-edge medical technology, presenting a simplified approach to diagnosing lung cancer.

Additionally, this innovation holds particular promise for low-and middle-income countries where the accessibility of computed tomography (CT) scanners is limited.

Computational Chemistry.

AI chemist performs complex experiments based on plain text prompts.

On its first try, the technology could successfully replicate work that won a Nobel prize.

If you plan on visiting the coast, you might notice flooded parking lots in the mornings or exposed reefs or rocks in the afternoons, depending on the area.

For those who are interested in learning more about king tides, the San Diego Audubon Society will be hosting an event at the Kendall-Frost Marsh on Friday from 8–10 a.m. Attendees will get an overview of sea level rise, the birds that rely on disappearing marsh habitat, and tools for documenting or reporting king tides.

Looking beyond January, the cosmic phenomenon of king tides is expected again Feb. 9–10.

The third-generation superconducting quantum computer, “Origin Wukong,” was launched on January 6 at Origin Quantum Computing Technology in Hefei, according to Chinese-based media outlet, The Global Times, as reported by the Pakistan Today.

According to the news outlets, the “Origin Wukong” is powered by a 72-qubit superconducting quantum chip, known as the “Wukong chip.” This development marks a new milestone in China’s quantum computing journey as it’s the most advanced programmable and deliverable superconducting quantum computer in China, as per a joint statement from the Anhui Quantum Computing Engineering Research Center and the Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Computing Chips, shared with the Global Times.

Superconducting quantum computers, such as the “Origin Wukong,” rely on a approach being investigated by several other quantum computer makers, including IBM and Google quantum devices.