IC Design Factory Joint Development Department announced that it will become the first partner to provide Project Treble for automotive ecosystems, providing customer upgrades and software maintenance for at least four years to improve customer service support, reduce its overall costs, protect user information, and extend the life cycle of vehicle products.
Project Treble is a architectural reform plan introduced by Google in 2017. Before Treble appeared, the update process of the Android system was complicated. That is, after Google released the new version of Android, IC design companies such as Joint Development and Qualcomm had to modify the driver and HAL (hardware abstraction layer) to the hardware (SoC). The mobile brand then integrates these into its own UI and functions, and finally hand it over to telecommunications providers for testing and release. This leads to the need to be reintegrated every update, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, so many device updates delay or even shut down. Therefore, the main purpose of Treble is to solve the problem of slow Android system updates.
The core concept of Project Treble is Google to redesign the Android architecture and separate the Android system framework from the manufacturer's hardware. The system layer (System Image) is the core part of Android OS provided by Google. The supplier layer (Vendor Image) is the driver program, HAL, etc. of chip manufacturers and hardware manufacturers. This is the hardware-related part (Vendor) that does not require rewriting every time it is updated, so Google or mobile manufacturers can push system updates faster. This not only allows mobile phone manufacturers to port the latest Android to old models faster. Moreover, theoretically, the hardware drive does not need to be rewrite, and the phone can be updated longer.
This time, MT8678 and MT8676, a subsidiary of CTK, are the first products to support Project Treble, a vehicle partner. The joint-venture department said that once the product is used or joins the project, customers will not be required to pay extra fees, which will be upgraded and updated, which will greatly reduce the total cost. In this regard, Zhang Yutai, deputy general manager of the Development Corporation and general manager of the Vehicle Utilities Department, said that the Development Corporation and Google have had many years of cooperation experience in different product lines, and look forward to further extending our cooperation relationship and strengthening our vehicle product combination. Through Project Treble, CT Technology will provide the latest technical features of the vehicle factory at reasonable cost during the use of automobile products to ensure that the driver can grasp the overall situation at any time, maintain special attention and maintain vehicle safety during driving.
Kei Technology MT8678 and MT8676 are now available.