CARIAD Selects Qualcomm to Power Volkswagen’s Future Automated Driving Solutions

• 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
• Relationship is 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"

CARIAD, the Volkswagen Group's software company announced today that it will look to Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to supply system-on-chips (SoCs) for CARIAD’s software platform designed to enable assisted and automated driving functions up to Level 4. The SoCs from Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Ride™ Platform portfolio will be an important hardware component in CARIAD's standardized and scalable compute platform, which are targeted for Group vehicles from 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.”

The selection of Qualcomm Technologies, a specialist in the semiconductor industry, is the first of its kind for CARIAD, allowing it to define which high-performance computer chips are used for its platform  and match them with its own software requirements. Under the leadership of CEO Herbert Diess, Volkswagen last year presented its NEW AUTO strategy, aimed at leading the Group into an autonomous and sustainable mobility future. Going forward, the Group will span everything from manufacturing and selling vehicles, to producing battery cells and offering energy services, to providing mobility solutions and developing and continuously updating software.

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. 

About CARIAD SE
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. Established in 2020 under the name Car.Software Organization, CARIAD today has around 5,000 engineers and developers working on a unified software platform for all Volkswagen Group brands, comprising an operating system, a unified architecture and an automotive cloud. The new software platform is to be used for the first time in the middle of the decade. The company is also developing digital functions for the vehicle, including driver assistance systems, a standardized infotainment platform, software functions for linking powertrains, chassis and charging technology, as well as the new digital ecosystem and digital services in and around the vehicle. CARIAD has software competence centers in Wolfsburg, Ingolstadt, the Stuttgart region, Berlin and Munich, among other places, and works closely with the Volkswagen Group's international development teams in the US and China. 

For more information, visit https://cariad.technology 

About Qualcomm 
Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research, and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.