- CARIAD selects Snapdragon Ride™ Platform’s system-on-chips (SoCs) for its unified scalable software platform
- Tailored SoCs are a crucial element for CARIAD to deliver competitive automated driving functions to all Volkswagen Group passenger car brands
- The relationship is the first of its kind for CARIAD and key for the Volkswagen Group to include perfectly matched hardware in its software platform from the middle of the decade.
- CARIAD CEO Hilgenberg: “High-performance SoCs from Qualcomm Technologies are a perfect match for us to bring automated driving to customers around the world”
MAY 3, 2022, MUNICH / INGOLSTADT – CARIAD, the Volkswagen Group’s software division, said today that Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. will provide system-on-chips (SoCs) for CARIAD’s software platform, which will allow Level 4 assisted and automated driving functionalities. Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon RideTM Platform SoCs will play a key role in CARIAD’s standardized and scalable computation platform, which will be used in Group cars starting in the middle of the decade.
“The connected and automated car of the future is a high-performance computer on wheels. Behind it lies enormously complex computing power,” said CARIAD CEO Dirk Hilgenberg. “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.”
“We look forward to supporting CARIAD and its suppliers to deliver scalable and secure automated driving functions for Volkswagen Group vehicles through their selection of our open and programmable Snapdragon Ride Platforms,” said Nakul Duggal, senior vice president & GM, automotive, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “As the amount of innovation and complexities increase, strong collaborations such as ours with CARIAD are a necessity to not only address aggressive time-to-market goals, but to deliver safe and reliable automated driving experiences for all.”
CARIAD’s choice of Qualcomm Technologies, a semiconductor industry specialist, is the first of its type, allowing it to specify which high-performance computer chips are utilized for its platform and match them to its own software requirements. Volkswagen unveiled its NEW AUTO strategy last year, led by CEO Herbert Diess, with the goal of steering the company into an autonomous and sustainable mobility future. The Group’s future activities will include everything from vehicle manufacturing and sales to battery cell production and energy services, mobility solutions, and software development and maintenance.
With Qualcomm Technologies’ high-performance SoCs, the Group will be able to deliver a range of secure and scalable automated driving functions. CARIAD will use SoCs from the Snapdragon Ride Platform portfolio, which are optimally suited to the needs of the software developed by CARIAD.
“We are proud to be supporting CARIAD with Snapdragon Ride Platforms to support NCAP, active safety, to Level 4, self-driving, functionality, across the Volkswagen Group vehicles launching from the middle of the decade,”
said Enrico Salvatori, SVP & President Qualcomm Europe/MEA, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
“Finding the best balance between scalability, costs and performance was one of our biggest challenges for the design of our new High Performance Compute platform”, said Klaus Hofmockel, Senior Vice President Hardware Development at CARIAD. “Qualcomm Technologies’ fully scalable SoC lineup delivers very efficient compute performance in combination with energy efficiency and also cost-effectiveness.”
CARIAD develops automated driving functions up to Level 4 based on Snapdragon Ride Platforms. The relationship with Qualcomm Technologies is also an important step in strengthening CARIAD’s own competencies in the definition of optimized high-performance semiconductors. Behind this is the conviction that software and hardware must be perfectly matched in order to achieve the best possible performance and efficiency of central computer systems in the long term. This is especially true for complex functions such as highly automated driving.
CARIAD is an independent automotive software company in the Volkswagen Group that is consolidating and further expanding the Group’s software competencies. The company is developing the leading technology stack for the automotive industry with the mission to make the automotive experience safer, more sustainable and more comfortable for people