Qualcomm has traditionally been quiet about its automotive ambitions, preferring to focus on its Snapdragon mobile and laptop processor offerings. That may be changing. The company flew me to the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit on Maui to see its latest Snapdragon Elite chipsand this year it’s all about automotive. The Snapdragon digital chassis has been powering cars for a few years, but now Qualcomm is tooting its Elite horn with Snapdragon Ride Elite and Snapdragon Cockpit Elite systems on a chip. And when Qualcomm says “Elite,” it means power and AI. AI is coming to cars in a big way.
I don’t just mean self-driving AI, although that is certainly a big part of Qualcomm’s technology. The new Snapdragon Ride Elite chipset can manage up to 40 different sensors simultaneously. This includes radar, LiDAR, cameras, microphones and infrared. It will use AI to manage all that data and assist with driving. Qualcomm suggests that the Ride Elite can handle Level 3 and Level 4 auto-driving, which means you still have to keep your hands on the wheel, or at least close.
Qualcomm AI means much more than driving automation. There will be new features tailored for an in-car experience, although much of what Qualcomm is showing now sounds like smartphone AI ported to the car. You can use AI to set a reminder, or it can find the nearest Starbucks if it thinks you need some caffeine. Your children can ask for last-minute homework help on the way to school.
Some of those sensors managed by Snapdragon will be pointed into the car. Qualcomm envisions automakers using infrared cameras to not only detect the number of occupants, but also read our body postures and even facial expressions. This technology is similar to Apple’s FaceID, which also uses infrared cameras to read the contours of your face.
Once the AI is aware of the passengers, it can help with safety measures, such as making sure you don’t accidentally leave pets or small children behind. It detects if you are starting to fall asleep and helps you stay alert. It can also detect if your children are sleeping in the back and mute the music and traffic alerts in their zone.
Zones will be a big part of the next generation of car cabins. Using AI, Qualcomm says the Snapdragon will be able to target sound environments, climate changes and other adjustments only to one passenger or the other. You might be listening to music while you drive, while your passenger watches a movie and the kids play games in the backseat.
Epic Games Unreal Graphics Help
That all happens in the car, and Qualcomm envisions a car with door-to-door displays. The new Snapdragon Cockpit Elite platform can power up to 16 4K displays. Some of these are your instrument gauge, your cockpit controls, and your rearview camera. Other displays provide entertainment and controls for all your passengers. Exaggerated? Maybe not.
The most interesting partner that appeared with Qualcomm during the automotive keynote at the Snapdragon Summit was Epic Games. Epic has its Unreal engine to cars. The same software that is the backbone for some of the best video games, including Fortnite, Cyberpunk 2077And Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderalso powers the dashboard of Rivian trucks.
RIvian uses Unreal Engine on the console displays for maps, vehicle status and pretty much everything else, and it looks unreal. The Engine is great at rendering a 3D environment, so it’s a natural fit for mapping, viewing a diagnostic view of your car, and controlling the climate.
This Halloween, Rivian owners have been treated to car costumes making the interior look like KITT from Knight Rider or the DeLorean from Back to the Future. You can’t drive with the costume on, but it still looks great and is fun to show off.
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads… or at least buttons
Qualcomm makes the brain, but it depends on car manufacturers and software developers for the thoughts
I still worry about the future of cars without physical buttons and controls, because I personally don’t have the dexterity to tap small touchscreen buttons while driving. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about touching the controls, as the car’s AI handles everything.
I don’t have to turn the temperature knob, I can just say “I’m warm” and the car turns on the air conditioning. When my friend in the back says, “I’m getting cold,” their area heats up. With intelligent AI support, I can ask for anything that used to have its own button. I just say ‘play’ Chappell Roan;’ or ‘turn on my emergency lights.’
Of course, relying on the voice for control presents a new set of problems, especially for people who have difficulty speaking or have an accent that the car finds unfamiliar. Will the car know how Chappell Roan pronounces her name?
I wish I could tell you a lot more about what AI will do in your car, but we don’t know yet. Qualcomm makes the brain, but it depends on car manufacturers and software developers for the thoughts. Whenever Qualcomm launches a new chipset we’ll get one or two solid examples of what the future may bring, but we’ll have to wait for RIvian, Mercedes and numerous Chinese electric car makers like Great Wall Motors and Li Auto to develop and evolve the features . .
Your car gets software updates and apps, just like your phone
After hearing from Li Auto, Rivian and Mercedes at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit, it’s clear that what excites these automakers most is how Snapdragon Elite chipsets will make it easier to update a car’s software and features. The entire software update process is going to change for cars.
Nowadays, updating car software is a complicated process that requires a smartphone connection. Premium electric cars from Rivian and Tesla get software updates and major new features wirelessly, thanks to always-on connectivity and powerful processing.
That same concept is coming to more cars in the future, and if all your car controls are software-based, that could mean stepping into a brand new vehicle after a nightly update.
Do you get annoyed when Apple updates your iPhone and your photo gallery suddenly looks completely different? Wait until that happens to your Mercedes cockpit. If it sounds like cars are becoming dangerously close to smartphones, you don’t know the half of it.
Apps are coming to cars in a big way, and not just the ones you’d expect. Of course there are games you can play in the car. Angry Birds was on Qualcomm’s list of car apps, and Epic says Fortnite is a popular request from car customers. But Qualcomm also imagines that your car will be a space for productivity.
You hold Zoom meetings in your car and see your participants on the dashboard. When you drive past a billboard for something you want, open Amazon on your dashboard to buy it. If you want to stay overnight, access Booking.com from your car, not your phone, and your car’s AI will automatically map the route to your hotel room.
You can even purchase new additional software functions via the car. Right now, Tesla owners can pay extra to buy the controversial ones Completely self-driving software update, but in the future more cars will offer software updates and new features for an additional fee. You can start with a base model car and after a year decide you want to pay for something more premium, and all it takes is a software update to give you more.
Qualcomm still needs automakers to build on its vision to realize an AI future that will be useful for cars, but GM, BMW, Mercedes and Rivian were all on hand at the launch of the Snapdragon Ride Elite and Cockpit Elite chipset.
Rivian would not comment on when the Elite chips would power its cars, nor would it comment on which chipset will be coming next. Rivian R3 will use. That car will be launched in the right time frame to achieve Elite Qualcomm status. BMW representatives told me to look out for an all-new vehicle at CES 2025.