Dongfeng's passenger car business unit will use Black Sesame's chips for its first all-electric sedan and first all-electric SUV.

(Image credit: Black Sesame)

Chinese autonomous driving chip startup Black Sesame Technologies has locked in a supply agreement and strategic investment from Dongfeng Motor.

Dongfeng Motor's passenger vehicle business unit, Dongfeng Motor Corporation Passenger Vehicle Company (DFPV), will use Black Sesame's chips in its first all-electric sedan and first all-electric SUV, according to a press release today from the chipmaker.

DFPV will build an intelligent driving domain controller platform based on Black Sesame's Huashan A1000 family of autonomous driving chips.

The platform has a computing power of 58 TOPS and can meet the requirements of L2 and L2+ autonomous driving solutions for driving and parking, including highway assisted driving and memory parking, Black Sesame said, adding that the platform is expected to be in mass production in 2023.

The Huashan A1000 chip is the first automotive chip platform in China to reach mass production status that supports both driving assisted driving as well as autonomous parking on a single chip, Black Sesame said.

The company's Drive Sensing solution based on the A1000 series chip supports functions including L2++ driving navigation NOA, parking HPA/AVP, 3D 360 surround view panorama, and multi-channel DVR.

The solution helps users enhance the smart driving experience while also offering car companies and parts suppliers the possibility of significantly reducing costs, according to Black Sesame.

In addition to the cooperation on chips, Dongfeng Asset Management, a subsidiary of Dongfeng Group, made a strategic investment in Black Sesame, the chipmaker said, without disclosing the amount of the investment.

Black Sesame was founded in August 2016 and has R&D centers in Shanghai and Silicon Valley. the company received Series A funding from Northern Light Venture Capital in November 2016.

In January 2018, Black Sesame announced the completion of a strategic Series A+ financing round of nearly RMB 100 million, led by Nio Capital.

In 2021, Black Sesame had partnered with two subsidiaries of Dongfeng to drive the commercialization of autonomous driving technology.

In addition to Dongfeng, Black Sesame entered into a strategic partnership with Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp (JAC Group) in late May.