In a radical conception of automated driving that has the potential to fundamentally alter the automotive industry, Qualcomm and BMW have unveiled a revolutionary autonomous driving technology that could disrupt conventional automotive business models as the groundbreaking Snapdragon Ride Pilot system is officially introduced after three years of intensive development involving more than 1,400 experts in various continents, the revolutionary autonomous driving platform based on artificial intelligence will offer unprecedented safety and convenience.
Automated driving system revolution breaks in the world
Framed in terms of the official press release by Qualcomm Technologies, Snapdragon Ride Pilot is a new system of automated driving that was unveiled by both companies as a fruit of the three-year cooperation between the companies, as Qualcomm stated. This is an innovative system based on the Snapdragon Ride system-on-chip, based on the most advanced Snapdragon Ride AD software stack, co-developed by both firms.
The system is designed with the most extreme safety levels and can supply the automated driving levels between the New Car Assessment Program (entry level) to Level 2+ highway and urban autonomous navigation. Snapdragon Ride Pilot is also globally launched in the brand-new BMW iX3, which is the first production car in BMW history with the Neue Klasse, and has been certified to work in more than 60 countries with the promise to expand to over 100 countries by 2026.
State-of-the-art AI-driven perception and safety systems
Automobile manufacturers, BMW and Qualcomm, have formally introduced Snapdragon Ride Pilot, an automated driving system that will be introduced in the next BMW iX3 electric car, BMW iX3, notes Automotive World. The technology is compatible with SAE Level 1, up to the theorized Level 5, with a fully 360-degree view of the perception system leveraging camera-based views to detect objects, provide a surrounding view, identify lanes, interpret traffic signs, and assist in parking.
The Snapdragon Ride AD software stack includes a perception stack created by Qualcomm Technologies and a drive policy engine developed together with BMW. It upholds safety with a stern focus on Automotive Safety Integrity Levels and Functional Safety standards, which helps it maintain adherence to recent safety standards, such as NCAP, FMVSS127, and DCAS.
The BMW Neue Klasse uses state-of-the-art technology
The partnership with the global-best engineering department of BMW has been an eye-opener, and as a result, we have developed a world-class system to replace the safety and comfort advantages of automated driving for our consumers in all geographies and in all classes and models of vehicles, Duggal, Group General Manager, Automotive and Industrial/Embedded IoT, Qualcomm Technologies.
The international growth and business opportunity
The car intelligence of the BMW iX3 allows features such as contextual lane change and overtaking, in which the system triggers the maneuver using minor signals such as glancing into a mirror or a nudge in the steering wheel. It also includes active lane change and highway assistant to drive hands-free in approved road networks, an AI-powered slot recognition car parking feature, and in-cabin camera surveillance.
BMW’s Superbrain of Automated Driving is a central intelligent computer, its powered core the Snapdragon Ride SoCs, which blends automated driving capabilities, providing 20 times more computing power than the generation before. Its system adopts a common architecture that incorporates an array of high definition 8M pixel and 3M pixel cameras and radar sensors that allow 360 degrees.
The Snapdragon Ride Pilot by Qualcomm and BMW will be a giant leap in the field of automated driving technology, integrating the latest achievements in AI technologies with the safety level that will allow developing a scalable platform and transform the sphere of automobile autonomy on an international level, and set new standards in the world of intelligent transportation systems.