Qualcomm's new CEO Amon: Digital chassis will make future cars

"The main reason why Qualcomm can cooperate with 23 of the world's top 25 automakers and conduct in-depth cooperation with a number of Chinese automakers is that we can provide a complete 'digital chassis' through technology. And these related technologies basically cover all areas of automotive technology that are undergoing transformation." Cristiano Amon, president and CEO of Qualcomm, said in an exclusive interview with Automotive Business Review.

From September 7 to 12, the relocated IAA Mobility 2021 (2021 German International Automotive and Smart Mobility Expo) was held in Munich, Germany. This is the first important European auto show since 2019. Compared with previous auto shows, the current IAA has added "Mobility" after it, which means that the focus of the Munich Auto Show is not limited to automobiles, but also includes many fields such as travel and technology, which also represents the development direction of the current automotive industry.

In his keynote speech at IAA Mobility 2021 on September 8, Amon said: "The digital chassis requires complete technical support for the development of various functions as a system, which means huge technological investment. Qualcomm is very pleased to use its basic technical expertise in connectivity and computing, combined with the huge potential that 5G brings to the automotive field, to create an open, interoperable and upgradeable dedicated digital chassis platform, bringing innovation at the ecosystem level, and based on this, work with automakers and automotive industry suppliers to build future travel."

On the eve of the auto show, Amon accepted an exclusive online interview with Automotive Business Review, expounding on the development direction of the automotive industry and Qualcomm's positioning in the industry, and answering some hot issues of concern to the industry.

The great changes in the automotive industry and the rise of smart cars have brought about a fundamental change in the "wholesale-retail relationship" in the automotive industry over the past century.

The current automotive industry is still dominated by the whole vehicle, and vehicle manufacturers hope to have control over key core technologies. Even with the huge changes in the body's electronic and electrical architecture, the core components of electric vehicles have become very different. For new products and technologies such as power batteries, smart cockpits, and smart driving that car manufacturers were not familiar with in the past, vehicle manufacturers still want to master the core technologies in their own hands, at least to have a full understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of advanced technologies and products.

For example, Tesla has developed its own FSD chip without Mobileye and Nvidia. Volkswagen Group has established the automotive software company CARIAD to develop its own software platform and end-to-end electronic architecture. Great Wall Honeycomb has taken the lead in achieving mass production and installation of cobalt-free batteries, and BYD has developed its own IGBT power semiconductor module.

SAIC Group Chairman Chen Hong said at the shareholders' meeting: "It is difficult for SAIC to accept a single supplier providing us with an overall solution. In this way, it will become the soul and SAIC will become the body. SAIC cannot accept such an outcome. We must control our soul in our own hands."

Some vehicle manufacturers are even quite demanding on the technologies and products provided by start-up technology companies, requiring them to provide white boxes and disclose all technical details so that they can split and recombine technical modules and take the initiative in cooperation.

It can be seen that on the road towards the new four modernizations of automobiles, the ideas of vehicle manufacturers and new parts companies are not unified, and new contradictions may arise as a result.

In an interview, Amon said: The entire automotive industry is also in a new transformation, and the role of cars is also changing. Not only have there been very big changes in electrification and technological evolution, but cars can now be called edge computing platforms. At the same time, automakers are also seeking change, and they are increasingly placing digital technology in the most important position.

Therefore, Qualcomm, combining its own technological advantages in the automotive field, proposed the concept of "digital chassis" to provide automakers with comprehensive capabilities and an open platform to help them build future-oriented cars.

Taking autonomous driving as a new breakthrough point

Although the progress of AD (autonomous driving) is not satisfactory due to imperfect technology, ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) & AD have become the general trend of development in the automotive industry. In particular, ADAS has been popularized very quickly in recent years and has become a standard feature of most new cars.

Data from Statista shows that the global ADAS market size will reach US$31.95 billion by 2023, an increase of more than 80% from US$17.57 billion in 2020. It can be seen that the market pie is huge.

At present, ADAS&AD is becoming the new highlight of Qualcomm's automotive business after in-vehicle networking and smart cockpit.

In this field, although Qualcomm's autonomous driving solution Snapdragon Ride platform is a latecomer, its SoC chip released in 2021 adopts a leading 5nm process, including a scalable and modular high-performance heterogeneous multi-core CPU, energy-efficient AI and computer vision engine, and advanced GPU.

At the end of last year, Great Wall Motors announced that it would be the first to adopt the Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride platform in its high-end models that will be mass-produced in 2022. In June this year, Great Wall Motors announced the launch of its third-generation autonomous driving computing platform ICU3.0 based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride platform. The platform has a single-board computing power of 360TOPS and can be continuously upgraded to 1440TOPS. It also provides an extremely high energy efficiency ratio of up to 5.5TOPS/W and excellent heat dissipation performance.

On August 5, Qualcomm announced that it would acquire Swedish automotive parts supplier Veoneer for US$4.6 billion (approximately RMB 29.72 billion), which is approximately US$800 million higher than Magna. The company intends to integrate technological resources and provide a competitive, open advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) platform to automakers and Tier 1 suppliers on a large scale.

Veoneer is a renowned provider of autonomous driving solutions in the industry. Its predecessor was the electronics division of Sweden's Autoliv, a global leader in automotive safety. It focuses on emerging market businesses such as automotive safety electronics and autonomous driving.

In January this year, Veoneer became one of the first Tier 1 companies to integrate Qualcomm's Snapdragon Ride platform, and the software used in this platform is Veoneer's autonomous driving software Arriver.

Autonomous driving is an extremely complex system. Although chips play an extremely important role in it, if there is no effective fit between software and hardware, the performance of the chip may be greatly reduced, and it will also affect the stability of the driving system.

In the interview, Amon admitted that the core reason for acquiring Veoneer was that Qualcomm was actually the only choice for the important assets provided by Veoneer.

First, Qualcomm announced last year that it would start cooperating with Veoneer, and the computer vision software stack provided by Veoneer is integrated into the Snapdragon Ride platform provided by Qualcomm, supporting the implementation of ADAS and AD technologies. Therefore, Qualcomm is actually the most natural technology user and partner for the technical resources and assets it provides.

Second, the entire automotive industry is currently undergoing a huge technological transformation and upgrade. Automakers hope to find technology suppliers and chip manufacturers to provide them with an open development platform that combines hardware and software. The important technical resources provided by Veoneer are actually more meaningful to technology companies like Qualcomm.

If Qualcomm takes control of Veoneer's Arriver software team and achievements, it will not only be able to integrate technology, hardware and software to form an integrated development technology platform and increase its competitiveness in the field of autonomous driving, but also gain more opportunities for direct contact with OEMs. Whether in terms of the company's revenue and profits, or in terms of the company's growth prospects and industry voice, there will be significant improvements.

Amon believes that Qualcomm's acquisition of Veoneer also reflects its determination to further cooperate with automakers and reflects Qualcomm's commitment and determination to build itself into a leading technology supplier in the automotive industry.

In addition to the acquisition of Veoneer, Qualcomm actually completed a landmark acquisition in March this year, namely the acquisition of world-class CPU and technology design company NUVIA for US$1.4 billion (approximately RMB 9.04 billion).

NUVIA was founded by three former Apple semiconductor executives in charge of iPhone chips. It is dedicated to custom CPU core design and has a high reputation and voice in power management, compute-intensive devices, high-performance processors, SoCs and compute-intensive terminal products.

Amon said the acquisition will enhance the company's CPU product roadmap and expand Qualcomm's technological leadership in the Windows, Android and Chrome ecosystems.

It is reported that Qualcomm plans to apply the new generation of CPUs that integrate NUVIA technology to areas such as smartphones, laptops and automotive chips, to enhance its strength in the field of high-performance CPUs.

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