VW Inks Deal to Use Qualcomm Chips for Autonomous Driving
The VW Group has one of the most extensive portfolios in the auto industry
May 3, 2022
The Volkswagen Group has agreed to a deal to work with Qualcomm on self-driving technology.
The partnership was confirmed on Tuesday after German business news outlet Handelsblatt had revealed on Monday that the automaker will pay in the region of $1 billion to use Qualcomm’s system on a chip (SOC) – which has been developed specifically for autonomous vehicles – across all of its brands.
A statement issued by CARIAD, the VW Group’s software unit, confirmed an agreement was in place, although no financial details were disclosed.
The deal is significant given that the VW Group has one of the most extensive portfolios in the auto industry, with Volkswagen, Skoda, SEAT, Cupra, Audi, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley all under its wing.
The SoC, from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Ride Platform portfolio, will be used with CARIAD’s standardized and scalable computer platform, which is aimed to be available by the middle of the decade. The platform will enable automated driving up to Level 4 standards, as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers. This means the car can handle all aspects of driving in most circumstances, without human intervention.
Handelsblatt claimed the deal was a five-year agreement that runs until 2031, with the first chips scheduled to be delivered to VW in around three years, although this was not confirmed in the official statement.
“The connected and automated car of the future is a high-performance computer on wheels,” CARIAD CEO Dirk Hilgenberg said. “Behind it lies enormously complex computing power. With our automated driving solutions, we are striving to let customers take their hands off the steering wheel in the future. Our software and Qualcomm Technologies’ high-performance SoCs are the perfect match to bring this new automotive experience to customers around the world.”
The agreement with Qualcomm will be considered something of a surprise by some industry observers, given that VW has been working with Intel subsidiary Mobileye for some time on a variety of driver assistance systems, and Audi had previously teamed up with Nvidia.
However, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said in a separate statement on LinkedIn that the deal did not mean the end of its relationship with other parties.