Qualcomm rides Snapdragon Digital Chassis into auto market

The automotive sector is currently one of the most dynamic in the mobile industry, and as it attempts to shore up and improve its market position in the sector, Qualcomm Technologies has unveiled a premium platform for developing customisable advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) applications.

The platform is based on the company’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis scalable cloud-connected platform, which is designed to allow automakers to meet evolving consumer and enterprise demand for a connected, intelligent experience that is safer, smarter and more immersive. At the same time, the technology is seeing use in examining opportunities for deeper customer engagement and service-based business models on the foundation of a scalable hardware-software co-designed architecture.

At the heart of the new offer, launched at flagship global consumer electronics show CES 2022, is the Snapdragon Ride Vision System. This comprises a programmable platform that addresses a spectrum of driver assistance and automated driving (AD) needs, from the New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) to L2+/L3.

It offers a scalable portfolio of system-on-chip (SoC) processors and accelerators for vision, central compute and high-performance AD, a turnkey Arriver-based vision stack, a set of ADAS/AD features and an architecture that Qualcomm says will enable automakers and Tier-1 suppliers to bring their own drive policy, parking or driver monitoring stack, advanced navigation that can be integrated with Arriver drive policy elements. The platform also includes support for functional safety/SOTIF and system architecture competencies.

A key ingredient of the Snapdragon Ride hardware platform is the Snapdragon Ride SoC. Designed to address the needs of the ADAS ecosystem, it has hardware blocks that enable ADAS applications such as machine learning and vision processing blocks for neural network-based perception; a vision accelerator for image pre- and post-processing applications; graphic accelerators for visualisation and parallel processing GP-GPU support; and a video processor for streaming media support.

At CES 2022, Qualcomm Technologies announced that it had gained broad automotive industry support for its Snapdragon Digital Chassis, naming BMW, General Motors and Hyundai among its partners.

“BMW has chosen Qualcomm Technologies as our technology partner and systems solutions provider based on the company’s breadth and depth of portfolio, as well as proven expertise in compute, connectivity, computer vision, advanced semiconductors and driver assistance technologies,” said Nicolai Martin, senior vice-president, driving experience, of the German motor group.

“We look forward to working with Qualcomm Technologies to build our next-generation ADAS/AD platform and continue delivering world-class driving experiences to our customers.”

Dan Nicholson, GM vice president, global electrification, controls, software and electronics, added: “General Motors is moving quickly towards an all-electric future, deploying the world’s most advanced technologies to improve our vehicles, expand our business and accelerate our transformation.

“Our technology work with Qualcomm Technologies helps to provide rapid delivery of more extensive customer experiences, allowing greater connectivity for our customers. We look forward to deploying Qualcomm Technologies’ open and scalable cloud-connected platforms across a wide range of upcoming GM vehicles in the future.”  

Haeyoung Kwon, vice-president of Hyundai Motor Group, said: “Hyundai Motor Group has a clear vision for smart, aware and safe driving experiences, with digitally advanced connectivity technologies at the core of next-generation vehicles. Innovation and integration are at the heart of Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon automotive solutions as they enable premium experiences for our customers, including the company’s Snapdragon Auto Connectivity Platforms, which not only delivers on innovation for the automotive industry, but capabilities to enable intelligent and connected vehicles of the future.”