Computing platforms in autonomous vehicles record large amounts of data from many sensors, process the data through machine learning models, and make decisions to ensure the vehicle's safe operation. Fast, accurate, and reliable decision-making is critical. Traditional computer processors lack the power and flexibility needed for the perception and machine vision demands of advanced autonomous driving tasks. Hardware accelerators are special-purpose coprocessors that help autonomous vehicles meet performance requirements for higher levels of autonomy. This paper provides an overview of ML accelerators with examples of their use for machine vision in autonomous vehicles. We offer recommendations for researchers and practitioners and highlight a trajectory for ongoing and future research in this emerging field.

翻译：自动驾驶车辆的计算平台从众多传感器记录大量数据，通过机器学习模型处理数据并做出决策，以确保车辆安全运行。快速、准确且可靠的决策至关重要。传统计算机处理器无法满足高级自动驾驶任务在感知和机器视觉方面的性能与灵活性需求。硬件加速器是专用协处理器，可帮助自动驾驶车辆满足更高自动驾驶等级的性能要求。本文概述了机器学习加速器及其在自动驾驶车辆机器视觉中的应用实例，为研究人员和实践者提出建议，并指出了这一新兴领域当前及未来研究的发展方向。