Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon Ride Flex SoC, a processor chip for the car. It can handle both assisted driving and cockpit functions, like entertainment.
“Previously those functions were handled on different chips and merging them can help bring down costs”, said Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm’s head of automotive.
Qualcomm has been steadily building up its automotive business in recent years. In September it said its automotive business “pipeline” increased to $30 billion.
With electric vehicles and increasing autonomous features like assisted driving in cars, the number of chips used by automakers is surging. The automotive market has been a key growth area for chipmakers.
Duggal said automotive customers are already trying out the new chip. Snapdragon Ride Flex SoC would be commercially available in the first half of next year.
“Obviously you are reducing the number of physical boxes. So it goes down to a single box. You reduce the amount of memory that you need. The extra external components that you need, those go down,” he further added.
