I don’t get it, is it that ridiculous? Having four different SoCs for different functions seems reasonable? Especially the mediatek one is the same one as their echo tablets. Makes a ton sense since it probably runs the same core software as the echo line.
The link redirects to <a href="https://notnow.dev/notice/AllhmPK9G8kaPxCbPk" rel="nofollow">https://notnow.dev/notice/AllhmPK9G8kaPxCbPk</a>.
I think people are surprised at how many chips are in a car — basically every option has its own chip. If you don’t order the car with that option, then you don’t get the chip.<p>Tesla did something that would seem normal to most non-automotive engineers—they just made one chip to run all the functions (not exactly accurate, but close enough for this discussion). But that is heretical to how automotive came to be.<p>Power windows would include what they needed in the feature. You don’t put a big cpu in the car just in case someone ordered power windows. Same with door locks. And each electrical thing that got tacked on over the years/decades.<p>Cars should have bitten the bullet much earlier in consolidation. Still not there yet for most.
Probably it's an off-P&L project of a bunch of unsupervised engineers tucked in a nondescript building in Sunnyvale which is losing money per unit (without even factoring in R&D costs) with no real way to profitability, or else they'd already DfM (Design for Manufacturing) it to death thus taking away any repairability.