SAN ANTONIO--June 20, 2012: Rightware Oy, a leader in embedded 3D user interface (UI) technologies has collaborated with Freescale semiconductor and Vivante Corporation to enable KanziŽ UI Solution, Rightware's flagship user interface product, on Freescale's i.MX 6 Series of application processors. This collaboration provides an integrated and highly optimized solution for automotive industry customers looking for the best-in-class hardware and software user interface solutions.
KanziŽ UI Solution is the leading, industry-proven automotive user interface technology that enables creation of high performance interactive 2D and 3D human-machine interfaces. To achieve its leading position in the automotive market, Rightware has developed the patent-pending KanziŽ UI technology that gives car manufacturers and Tier 1 automotive suppliers the ability to build captivating, photorealistic human machine interfaces (HMI) in various configurations inside modern automobiles. KanziŽ UI Solution is designed to meet the most stringent requirements of reliability, rapid start-up time, excellent antialiasing quality, performance and intelligent power and system resource management. Optimized for the Freescale i.MX 6 Series of automotive applications processors, KanziŽ UI Solution is the most advanced technology for car manufacturers and their suppliers to enable high fidelity graphical user interfaces with rich 3D features, smooth animations, and versatile user interface effects.
Freescale's i.MX 6 Series of application processors offer the industry's most scalable line of hardened processors targeting automotive systems. Each i.MX 6 product is optimized around CPU, Triple Play graphics, and HD video processing to bring next-gen, unbounded visual user experiences to in-vehicle infotainment and instrument cluster systems. The i.MX 6 product line scales from single to quad-core ARMŽ Cortex-A9s to offer a comprehensive range of products that are truly versatile, with software and hardware compatibility across the board. By combining the power-efficient processing capabilities of the ARM Cortex-A9 technology with bleeding-edge 3D and 2D graphics, as well as high-definition video, the i.MX 6 Series provides a new level of multimedia and graphics performance to enable an unbounded next-generation user experience on in-vehicle infotainment and instrument cluster systems.
The Triple Play graphics inside the i.MX 6 consists of three Vivante GPU cores -- GC2000 for graphics and OpenCL, GC320 for composition and GC355 for OpenVG. Each core works seamlessly together to ensure QoS and efficient work-load balance for best-in class reliability and performance. The differentiated cores allow the composition engine to offload all 2D/composition functions from the GPU to save power and allow the GPU to focus on rendering amazing 3D HMIs and configurable instrument clusters. The OpenVG core operates in parallel to the other engines and delivers the sharpest, fastest, and most accurate needle renderings.
A new era of instrument and infotainment solutions begins with Kanzi accelerated by Vivante on i.MX 6. Rightware's Kanzi Engine is highly optimized and tightly integrated with the unified software stack of the i.MX 6 applications processor and Vivante's GPU, OpenVG, and composition processing cores. The turnkey solution shortens development time and significantly reduces effort needed to create the next wave of revolutionary 3D HMIs with the best performance for modern in-vehicle infotainment and instrument cluster systems.
"Human-machine interfaces and user experience design for in-vehicle infotainment and instrument cluster systems have become one of the key differentiators in modern cars. High fidelity graphical user interfaces significantly enhance the appeal of a vehicle and eventually that of the manufacturer brand. Our collaboration with Freescale and Vivante will help car manufacturers and entire automotive ecosystem to rise to a whole new level with next-generation HMIs," said Tero Sarkkinen, CEO of Rightware.
"High performance graphical user interfaces are playing a growing role in driver information systems. Demand for advanced user interfaces in automotive applications is growing quickly, both for infotainment systems and instrument clusters. Rightware's optimizations for Freescale's i.MX 6 Series processors on the KanziŽ UI Solution allow our customers to take advantage of our products' advanced capabilities without compromising performance or time to market," said David Patterson, Vice President and General Manager of Freescale's Multimedia Applications Division.
"The next revolution of in-vehicle HMI systems revolves around a visual-centric user experience that converges automotive and consumer devices. With hi-res displays, larger screens, and better graphics, the GPU is becoming the major technical focal point in OEM decisions. The partnership with Rightware and Freescale will enable OEMs to realize this vision, making the transition straightforward and providing a captivating automotive experience," said Wei-Jin Dai, President and CEO of Vivante.
