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Qualcomm Boosts Self-Driving Solutions With Snapdragon Ride

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Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM - Free Report) recently unveiled the first-of-its-kind automotive platform — Snapdragon Ride — which enables automakers to transform their vehicles into self-driving cars using AI. The chip maker giant’s latest foray into the automotive command and control systems is likely to give tough competition to major players like NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) and Intel Corporation (INTC - Free Report) , thereby fortifying its position in the industry.

Snapdragon’s scalable platform comprises the Snapdragon Ride Safety system-on-a-chip, Accelerator and the Snapdragon Ride Autonomous Stack. The combination of these self-driving algorithms facilitates a robust architecture of hardware and software that supports advanced driver assistance systems like automatic emergency braking, traffic sign recognition, lane keeping, self-parking and automated highway driving technology, commonly known as Level 1 and Level 2 systems.

Markedly, the San Diego-based chip maker launched a system that supports the connection of autonomous cars to high-speed cellular networks under the Cellular Vehicle to Everything technology. Snapdragon Ride will also incorporate Level 4 and Level 5 technology in the system, which will facilitate autonomous urban driving.

The innovative technology, demonstrated at CES 2020, integrates massive data from a car’s sensors to assume control of safety-critical functions, also known as Level 3 technology, and is compliant with existing regulations for safety and driver assistance. Another major benefit obtained by the high-end system is the absence of liquid cooling. Instead, the system can be air-cooled, which reduces operating costs, boosts reliability, optimizes battery consumption and extends the driving capacity for electric vehicles.

Impressively, Qualcomm has also signed an extended partnership with General Motors Company (GM - Free Report) to deliver avant-garde self-driving technologies with a diversified portfolio of automotive solutions. Per the agreement, the Detroit-based automaker will provide Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), infotainment and telematics solutions in collaboration with the best-in-class computing capabilities of Qualcomm.

Snapdragon Ride platform is anticipated to be shipped for pre-development to carmakers and Tier-1 suppliers in the first half of 2020, and the Snapdragon Ride-enabled vehicles are expected to hit markets by 2023.

Operating as a leading player in 5G, chipset market and mobile connectivity, Qualcomm focuses on three areas — computing, connectivity and electrification. With more than 150 5G design wins to date, it is reportedly the only chipset vendor with 5G system level solutions spanning sub-6, gigahertz and millimeter wave bands. The company aims to expand its product portfolio and develop mobile phone chips for the masses.

Qualcomm has long-term earnings growth expectation of 14%. The stock has rallied 54.6% compared with the industry’s growth of 18.8% in the past year.



Qualcomm currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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