Detachable Auto SSD

Autonomous vehicles need to store various sensor data and driving footage in real-time, but existing built-in storage is reaching its capacity and speed limits.

Additionally, transferring driving data (e.g., dashcam footage, LiDAR maps) stored in the vehicle to an external location requires cumbersome processes such as network transfer or cable connection, which delays data retrieval. This causes issues such as delayed accident analysis or data collection for machine learning.

The Detachable Auto SSD is a solution that combines a high-speed SSD (based on PCIe 5.0) dedicated to vehicles with a dedicated connector design that allows it to be plugged into and removed from the vehicle's ECU. It provides a sequential read speed of up to 12GB/s, easily handling the simultaneous storage of 8K multi-cam video, LiDAR point clouds, etc.[99]

With its industrial-grade heat and vibration resistant design, it operates stably even under vehicle vibrations or extreme temperatures. Most importantly, the slide-in/slide-out detachable structure allows engineers to easily remove only the SSD module and plug it into a data center server for immediate data migration/analysis. This significantly reduces driving data collection and upload times.

For example, a robotaxi operator can simply remove the SSD when the vehicle returns at night, upload it to the cloud, and reinsert it the next day. In short, the key differentiator is that it integrates the functions of a car's black box, tachograph, and data shuttle.

Automobile manufacturers (B2B), especially those with autonomous driving platforms, will adopt this technology in their new vehicles.

In addition, robotics companies or military vehicle manufacturers, and other fields requiring large-capacity vehicle data, may also become customers.

Given Samsung's significant influence in the automotive memory sector, it is likely to lead the standardization of vehicle standards in the future and establish itself as an industry standard.

If this concept becomes widespread, it may be expanded to general passenger cars as a type of high-end black box option, allowing the memory to be submitted to the police in the event of an accident. Improved data mobility is also expected to have repercussions in the maintenance/insurance industries.

Along with the CES Innovation Award, it received considerable attention in the automotive technology section. In particular, the idea of "connecting vehicles and data centers with modular SSDs" was praised by the industry[99], and technology media such as Tom's Hardware also praised the innovative design.

Realistically, it will take time to adopt the standard, but there is no disagreement that it is a preemptive solution to the problem of future automotive data processing. Some have mentioned that the need may decrease as cloud upload speeds increase in the future, but there is a broad consensus that offline transfer of vast sensor data is the best option for the time being.