Nota AI, a global leader in AI optimization, today announced a collaboration with Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions. This partnership aims to deliver an optimized Driver Monitoring System (DMS) on Renesas' newly launched RA8P1 Microcontroller Unit (MCU).
Nota AI is collaborating with Renesas Electronics Corporation.
They are delivering an optimized Driver Monitoring System (DMS) on Renesas' RA8P1 MCU.
The solution achieves 50 frames per second (FPS) real-time performance.
It operates with ultra-low power and a minimal system footprint.
The RA8P1 MCU features Arm® Cortex®-M85, Cortex®-M33 cores, and the Arm Ethos™-U55 NPU.
Nota AI’s NetsPresso® platform optimizes AI models for Renesas hardware.
An MCU is essentially a small computer on a chip, crucial for controlling functions in various devices, including cars. By enabling AI to run efficiently on such compact processors, this collaboration brings scalable, real-time driver behavior analysis to embedded systems. This makes intelligent safety features more accessible, even in automotive environments constrained by size and power.
The RA8P1 features Arm® Cortex®-M85 and Cortex®-M33 cores alongside the Arm Ethos™-U55 NPU, facilitating high-performance AI within a small footprint. Nota AI's DMS solution, specifically optimized for the RA8P1, achieves approximately 50 frames per second (FPS)—a significant benchmark for real-time monitoring.
Powered by NetsPresso®, Nota AI's proprietary AI model optimization platform, the company delivers lightweight, deployment-ready models for a broad range of Renesas hardware. Beyond the RA8P1, Nota AI provides optimized AI solutions for the RA8D1 MCU and RZ/V series microprocessors (MPUs), including the RZ/V2M, RZ/V2L, and RZ/V2H. Key applications such as People Detection, Line Crossing People Counting, and DMS have already been successfully implemented on RZ/V devices, showcasing their readiness for real-world deployment.
The ongoing collaboration between Nota AI and Renesas was also a highlight at Embedded Vision Summit 2025 in Santa Clara. Nota AI showcased its high-capacity crowd counting solution—optimized for the RZ/V2H and capable of detecting up to 5,000 individuals in real time—at its own booth. Simultaneously, Renesas featured its RA8D1-based DMS solution at the same event, emphasizing the potential of compact edge AI solutions in automotive safety. This collaboration underscores the companies' shared mission: enabling practical and efficient AI across embedded platforms. Nota AI's solutions deliver consistent performance across Renesas' full hardware lineup—from lightweight MCUs to advanced MPUs—bringing intelligence to vehicles, industrial environments, and public spaces where latency, power efficiency, and compact design are crucial.
"Our collaboration with Renesas integrates their advanced hardware expertise with our optimized AI technologies, unlocking new possibilities for embedded AI solutions," says Myungsu Chae, CEO of Nota AI. "We look forward to further strengthening this collaboration, accelerating innovation, and driving widespread adoption of efficient, real-time AI in resource-constrained environments."
"Working closely with Nota AI demonstrates the RA8P1's potential to support advanced AI at the edge," says Kaushal Vora, Senior Director of Core Technologies & Ecosystem Enablement of Renesas. "Together, we're enabling smarter, more efficient solutions across key industries."
Through this ongoing partnership, Nota AI and Renesas are enabling high-efficiency edge AI to power the next generation of driver assistance and public safety applications. The optimized DMS solution for RA8P1 will be available starting in July 2025.
Nota AI (Nota Inc.) specializes in on-device AI and model optimization. Powered by its proprietary NetsPresso® platform, Nota AI delivers lightweight, high-performance AI for transportation, mobile, and IoT devices. Named one of CB Insights' '100 Most Innovative AI Startups,' Nota AI is expanding globally with presence in the U.S., Germany, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
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