Qualcomm Bows Pre-Integrated Alexa Control, 4th-Gen Auto Cockpit Platform

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit platforms will be offered with a pre-integrated Alexa Custom Assistant, allowing automotive OEMs to build customizable, in-vehicle intelligent assistants. The news was part of a blitz of automotive announcements from the chipmaker Tuesday that included an extension of Qualcomm's relationship with General Motors for next-generation telematics systems and future advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

The voice system, offered as an extension module to the Alexa Automotive software development kit, will be available soon on third-generation Snapdragon automotive cockpit platforms and the nascent fourth-gen platform, Qualcomm and Amazon said. It will offer “highly intuitive, voice-based capabilities for natural, conversational interactions with driver and passengers.”

Alexa Custom Assistant, which can be tailored to each vehicle brand with unique wake words, voices and capabilities, is available to automotive OEMs on a preapproved basis. It provides access to “always-improving” voice artificial intelligence technology, including the Alexa wake word engine, spoken language understanding, intent routing and response orchestration. Amazon bills the platform as a way for developers to build, deliver, and maintain a voice system “without the hefty investment.”

Qualcomm’s smart audio platform and voice assist technologies have multichannel echo cancellation noise suppression that’s said to enable access to Alexa services even when multiple people are speaking inside the car. The system uses voice identification and zonal interference cancellation technology for “a personality-aware voice assistant,” the companies said. The new voice functionality can also be made available via Qualcomm’s car-to-cloud services, with “Soft SKU” capability that allows automakers to update Alexa via over-the-air upgrades. Pre-integration of Alexa reduces the “cost, complexity and time it takes for automotive OEMs to offer their customers the choice and flexibility of simultaneous intelligent assistants,” said Ned Curic, vice president-Alexa Automotive.

For its next-generation vehicles, GM is using the third-gen Snapdragon digital cockpit platforms for “rich” and “immersive” in-vehicle experiences and AI-enabled in-car virtual assistance, “natural interactions between the vehicle and driver” and “contextual safety use cases,” said the companies. Qualcomm’s third-generation platforms continue to gain traction among Tier-1 suppliers globally, Qualcomm said, naming Google, Panasonic and Visteon. The platform is said to support higher levels of compute and computing intelligence needed for advanced capabilities in next-generation vehicles, including intuitive AI experiences for in-car virtual assistance, immersive audio and advanced visual experiences, natural interactions between the vehicle and driver, and contextual safety use cases for drivers and passengers.

Fourth-generation Snapdragon cockpit platforms are based on a zonal architecture, where the cockpit acts as a central hub for high-performance compute, computer vision, AI and multi-sensor processing. The scalable platforms support Snapdragon’s three automotive performance tiers covering entry-level, step-up and “super computing,” Qualcomm said. The high-performance SoC has a lower power- and thermal profile and OTA update capability over the vehicle's life cycle.

The new digital cockpit platforms support multiple engine control units and domain consolidation, augmented reality heads-up-display, infotainment, rear-seat displays, eMirror and in-cabin monitoring services. They also provide video processing capabilities to integrate drive recording and surveillance functionality, Qualcomm said. The new platforms use the same software architecture and framework across all tiers. Production is set to begin next year.

Qualcomm is working with Alps Alpine on a new camera-based sensing and positioning device, ViewPose, to support lane-level vehicle positioning based on 5G and satellite technology. The companies position ViewPose as a cost-effective solution to lane-level accuracy for electric front, rear- and side-view eMirrors. Mirror features include blind spot warnings, HD map crowdsourcing, lane-level navigation for cellular vehicle-to-everything, and ADAS and autonomous driving applications. It’s slated for OEM deployment in 2024.

In an update on its connected vehicles business, Qualcomm said 4G LTE connected services will continue to be deployed globally, while the automotive industry moves toward 5G for next-gen connected vehicles. It’s working with Continental, GosuncnWelink, LG, Quectel Wireless Solutions, Rolling Wireless, Wistron NeWeb and ZTE. It cited an October Strategy Analytics report saying nearly 75% of vehicles sold in 2027 will have embedded cellular connectivity.