Domain control unit shipments will boom in 2021.
When the one-to-one correspondence between the growing number of sensors and electronic control units (ECU) leads to underperforming vehicles and adds circuit complexity, more powerful centralized architectures like domain control unit (DCU) and multi-domain controller (MDC) come as an alternative to the distributed ones.
As concerns the tendency of domain controller, Vector conceives three stages of E/E architecture development: controller-centric, DCU, and central computer. Intelligent vehicle will ultimately be a mobile super computer and data center, and a new Wintel will come into being. In future, computing platform, operating system and application software will matter the most to the highly automated vehicles; multimedia multi-domain controllers and central domain controllers are likely to be combined into one.

In response to the disruption, Volkswagen plans adoption of a unified automotive E/E architecture; BMW will introduce central communication services and service-oriented architecture (SOA) in its next-generation E/E architecture; the smart vehicle architecture (SVA) launched by Aptiv breaks the bottleneck of conventional architectures, providing frame scalability for next-generation intelligent vehicles. The new E/E architectures will be built on the concept of central computer-layer-area, embodying the philosophy of SOA.
As to DCU, next-generation smart cockpit system based on cockpit DCU enables functionality of cockpit electronic system on a unified software and hardware platform. Cockpit electronic system offering intelligent interaction and scenarios as well as personalized services, will be a foundation for human-vehicle interaction and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. Visteon argues that by 2023, intelligent cockpit integrated with LCD dashboard, center console and co-pilot infotainment system will be based entirely on single-ECU domain control platform.
Globally, Visteon, Continental, Bosch and Aptiv dominate the cockpit DCU market; Chinese players like Huawei, Desay SV, Shenzhen Hangsheng Electronics and Neusoft race to unveil their cockpit DCU solutions.
As for cockpit chip, typical products are comprised of Qualcomm 820A, Intel Atom, NXP i.MX8, Renesas R-CAR H3 and TI Jacinto family. Notably, the prevailing Qualcomm 820A processor platform has been ordered by 18 out of the 25 world-renowned OEMs, with the order intake recording $5.5 billion or so.

In the ADAS/AD DCU market, most of those in use for Level 1 driving assistance employ separate ECU to control. ADAS ECU which is developed mainly for Level 2 driving assistance is utilized to combine LDW/LKA and AEB. It is in the era of Level 2+, Level 3 and Level 4 automated driving that the demand for autonomous driving domain control unit (AD DCU) will be soaring.
Tier-1 suppliers worldwide already deploy ADAS/AD DCU such as Visteon DriveCore, Bosch DASy, Continental ADCU, ZF ProAI, Veoneer Zeus and Magna MAX4. In China, such typical products include iECU (co-developed by SAIC and TTTech), Huawei MDC (MobileData Center) intelligent driving DCU, IN-DRIVING TITAN, and Neusoft Reach CPDC-II DCU/CPDC-III central computer.
When it comes to autonomous driving chip, Nvidia is absolutely the leader with Nvidia Drive PX2 and Nvidia Drive Xavier being widely deployed by vendors. In December 2019, Nvidia introduced DRIVE AGX Orin, a software-defined platform for Level 5 automated driving, with nearly 7x the performance of the previous generation SoC Xaiver. The Orin SoC integrates NVIDIA’s next-generation GPU architecture and Arm Hercules CPU cores, as well as new deep learning and computer vision accelerators that, in aggregate, deliver 2,000 TOPS.

Other autonomous driving chips include TI TDA4, Qualcomm? Snapdragon Ride?, NXP S32 family, and Mobileye EyeQ family.

In the next three to five years, among DCU market segments, cockpit DCU will see a faster growth rate and a larger market than autonomous driving DCU because it is easier to spawn cockpit DCUs at lower cost; the surging demand for intelligent cockpits, which is fueled by the availability of 5G in vehicles, will drive up cockpit DCU shipments to explode in 2021 on the basis of OEM’s and Tier1’s progress in mass production.
In the ADAS/AD DCU field, inadequate regulations and immature technologies will expectedly make it hard to apply Level 3/Level 4 automated driving technologies on large scale in the upcoming three to five years. OEMs, tier-1 suppliers and chip vendors are working to mass produce L2+ autonomous vehicles. It is predicted that production of Level 3/Level 4 autonomous vehicles will peak around 2025, but business-oriented vehicles will play the key role, with roughly 5 million units of ADAD/AD DCUs for passenger cars to be shipped worldwide in 2025.
OEMs and Tier1s’ Intelligent Cockpit Platform (Hardware and Software) Innovation Strategy Research Report, 2026
Intelligent Cockpit Platform Research: multi-dimensional cockpit system architecture reconstruction for multi-agent collaboration and proactive intelligent services
The intelligent cockpit software s...
Automotive AIOS Research Report, 2026
Automotive AIOS Research: Mass Production Solutions Are Implemented
Mass Production Solutions Are Implemented on A Small Scale.
In 2026, AIOS starts small-scale implementation, helping to improve v...
Automotive Telematics Service Provider (TSP) Research Report, 2026
TSP Research: Leading providers collectively turn to AI agents to provide all-scenario active services
Telematics Service Providers (TSPs) are the core hub of the telematics industry chain, connectin...
Automotive Smart Interior Research Report, 2026
Smart Interior Research: As Technologies like Interactive Starlight Headliner, Hidden Display and Surface Projection Are Launched, Automotive Interiors Become Ever More Intelligent
The Automotive Sma...
Research Report on AI Applications in Cockpits, 2026
AI Application in Cockpits: AI Services Become More Comprehensive, Convenient, and Refined.
In the first half of 2026, cockpit AI functions underwent initial upgrades across multiple dimensions, inc...
Software-Defined Vehicles in 2026: OEM Software Development and Supply Chain Deployment Strategy Research Report
Research on OEMs’ Software Strategies: R&D Focus, Development Strategies and Supplier Building Models of 30 OEMs
In this paper, we adopt a research framework covering 13 subsystems and 48 sub-di...
Passenger Car Chassis Domain Control and Chassis Cross-Domain Integration Research Report, 2026
Chassis Control Research: Mass Production of Full Chassis-by-Wire Solutions Starts
1. A Cluster of Full Chassis-by-Wire Solutions Make Their Debut, and EMB Enters Mass Production and Adoption for the...
Central Domain Control (Powertrain, Chassis, Body) and Motion Controller Research Report, 2026
Central Domain Control and Motion Control Research: XYZ Coordinated Control and Full X-by-Wire Actuation System
With the gradual penetration of L3+ autonomous driving, the chassis control system is ...
48V Low-voltage Power Distribution Network (PDN) Architecture and Supply Chain Panorama Research Report, 2026
Research on 48V Low-Voltage Power Distribution Network (PDN): An Active 48V Supply Chain, with Priority Deployment in High-Power Scenarios Such as Steer-by-Wire Chassis
The automotive 48V low-voltage...
AI-Defined Vehicle (AIDV) OEMs' Deployment Strategies Research Report, 2026
AIDV Research: Deployment Strategies of 22 OEMs
The AI-Defined Vehicle (AIDV) OEMs' Deployment Strategies Research Report, 2026, released by ResearchInChina, analyzes the AI deployment strategies of ...
OEMs’ Passenger Car Model Planning Research Report, 2026
Vehicle Model Planning Research: Chinese OEMs Launch Sub-Brands Intensively, While Multinational OEMs Apply the Brakes to Electrification Strategies
ResearchInChina released the OEMs’ Passenger Car M...
Autonomous Driving Simulation and World Model Research Report, 2026
Autonomous driving simulation research: "Simulation test + world model"-driven test system has become R&D infrastructure.
The "Autonomous Driving Simulation and World Model Research Report, 2026"...
Cockpit-Driving Integration Central Domain Controller SoC and AI Supercomputing Architecture Research Report, 2026
Cockpit-Driving integration and AI supercomputing research: The One Chip solution is rapidly installed in vehicles, and AI supercomputing architectures are moving towards full-domain integration.
AI ...
Intelligent Driving End-to-End Large Model Research Report, 2026
Research on Intelligent Driving Large Models: A Critical Period for Technological Competition and Paradigm Integration
As autonomous driving technology rapidly iterates from L2 to L3?L4, intelligent...
Automotive Digital Key Industry Trend Report, 2026
Digital Key Research: Automotive BLE, UWB and SLE Hardware Layout
The Automotive Digital Key Industry Trend Report, 2026, released by ResearchInChina, analyzes and predicts the digital key market, co...
Monthly Report on Automotive New Technology (May 2026)
UHD gaze technology, full-color LiDAR, UWB, etc. promote the upgrade of intelligent driving perception capabilities
This report is published once a month and is available for annual subscription.The...
In-Cabin Monitoring Systems (DMS, OMS, etc.) Research Report, 2026
In-Cabin Monitoring System Research: DMS to Become Mandatory in 2027, Expected to be Installed in Over 14 Million Vehicles
ResearchInChina released the In-Cabin Monitoring Systems (DMS, OMS, etc.) Re...
Automotive Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Cross-Domain Middleware Industry Report, 2026
Research on automotive SOA and cross-domain middleware: The era of AI atomic services and AI cross-domain fusion agents is coming.
Automotive SOA evolves towards AI + full SOA servitization Driv...