The rollout is part of Qualcomm’s long-term ambition to make its name felt as vividly as in the mobile connectivity market, its stronghold, as the latest advances in 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications technology are rapidly applied across connected car platforms to form the basic building blocks.
Qualcomm is already one of the leaders in automotive connectivity market with more than 340 million chips shipped so far for products for over 20 automakers,
The platform also comes out of the lab to help tackle challenges such as wireless coexistence, future-proofing and support for a large number of in-car hardware architectures.
The Connected Car Reference Platform is built upon Qualcomm Technologies’ broad automotive product and technology portfolio, including Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 and X5 LTE modems, quad-constellation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and 2D/3D Dead Reckoning (DR) location solutions, Qualcomm VIVE Wi-Fi technology, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) for V2X, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy and broadcast capabilities such as analog and digital tuner support using software-defined radio via Qualcomm tuneX chips.
In addition, the platform features in-vehicle networking technologies such as Gigabit (OABR) Ethernet with Automotive Audio Bus (A2B) and Controller Area Network (CAN) interfaces.
Highlights of the Connected Car Reference Platform design include:
- Scalability: Using a common framework that scales from a basic telematics control unit (TCU) up to a highly integrated wireless gateway connecting multiple electronic control units (ECUs) within the car supporting critical functions such as over-the-air software upgrades and data collection and analytics.
- Future-proofing: Allowing the vehicle’s connectivity hardware and software to be upgraded through its life cycle, providing automakers with a migration path from DSRC to hybrid/cellular V2X and from 4G LTE to 5G.
- Wireless coexistence: Managing concurrent operation of multiple wireless technologies using the same spectrum frequencies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy.
- OEM and third-party applications support: Providing a secure framework for the development and execution of custom applications.
The Connected Car Reference Platform allows automakers and their suppliers to explore, prototype and commercialize connectivity designs using modules and solutions offered based on Qualcomm Technologies’ roadmap.
“With the Connected Car Reference Platform, Qualcomm Technologies has developed a platform for automakers, module OEM customers, and developers that emphasizes scalability, modularity and security for integrating and managing multiple cutting-edge wireless technologies inside vehicles,” said Nakul Duggal, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We are pleased to introduce this platform to help enable best-in-class advanced connectivity solutions and services in upcoming vehicle designs.”
The Qualcomm Connected Car Reference Platform is expected to be available by the end of 2016. Qualcomm Technologies is showcasing the Connected Car Reference Platform, along with application demos from collaborating companies including OTA updates by Movimento, V2X communications by Savari, Inc., and vehicle data management and analytics by Hortonworks, at the TU-Automotive Detroit conference on June 8-9.