Mobile chip maker Qualcomm Technologies has unveiled a processor chip — Snapdragon Ride Flex — for cars for handling both assisted driving and cockpit functions, including entertainment.
Different chips previously handled those functions and merging them can help bring down costs, said Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm’s head of automotive.
“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,” Nakul Duggal told Reuters.
Qualcomm has been building up its automotive business in recent years and in September it said its automotive business pipeline increased to $30 billion.
Nakul Duggal said automotive customers are trying out the new chip and it would be commercially available in the first half of next year.
