The advanced driving features are creating lucrative upsell opportunities for auto manufacturers. For instance, Ford reports that its BlueCruise system has gross margins exceeding 70% and that it experienced 25% QoQ growth in miles driven during Q4 2023. These margins are particularly impressive, considering many automakers are currently facing pressures on margin as they transition to electrified models.

The hands-off, eyes-on system provides significant value to both customers and automakers.  Typically, such systems use a 5-camera and 5-radar sensor (5V5R) setup with low computational power. Since the sensor suite does not require a high-priced sensor like LiDAR, the system cost remains low. For instance, Mobileye offers a similar product, Surround ADAS, with a BOM cost of $700-$800. This provides OEMs with the opportunity to price such features and technology at an attractive price point or bundle them in a subscription package that appeals to car buyers.

Fruition of the Long-standing Partnership

Qualcomm and BMW have been collaborating since 2021 on driver assistance technology, co-developing a software stack using Arriver’s perception software, which Qualcomm later acquired. This collaboration had a shared vision of delivering a safe, smart, and scalable assisted driving platform. This project involved a collective effort of 1,400 individuals across five countries, culminating in the launch of Snapdragon Ride Pilot.

Snapdragon Ride Pilot: Win-Win for Both

BMW

European automakers, including BMW, are feeling the heat as their Chinese competition, including BYD, NIO, and Xpeng, continue to aggressively expand into European markets with cars boasting the latest technology and features. Hence, the timing of Snapdragon Ride Pilot's debut could not be more strategic for BMW to enhance its market and technology positioning. Although BMW has already rolled out Level 3 autonomous driving technology in its BMW 7 Series. Sales of such cars remain very low in Germany. However, according to BMW, the take rate of its highway assistant feature exceeds 50% in Germany and over 40% in the US. When offered the automated driving feature, BMW customers in Germany used the service for more than 65% of their driving time, while customers in the US used it for nearly 50%.

With the Neue Klasse family, BMW has adopted a zonal architecture, which is comprised of a total of four high-performance computers, also referred to as “Superbrains” by BMW. The “Superbrains” that power the iX3’s automated driving capabilities is based on Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride SoC, offering 20x greater performance than the previous ADAS chip. While an automated technology software stack has been developed in partnership with Qualcomm, BMW developed driving policy and safety guardrails to ensure its commitment to safe driving. Qualcomm noted that Snapdragon Ride Pilot meets Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) and Functional Safety (FuSa) standards as well as complies with the FMVSS 127 standard, and NCAP, in the US and the UNECE’s Driver Control and Assistance System (DCAS) regulation.

The iX3 offers both highway assist, and city assist driving features, in which the system detects a red light and stops the car, and then starts the car again. The highway assist driving is available in seven European countries, while the city assist driving was only available in Germany at the time of launch. Additionally, by leveraging AI software, BMW offers a comprehensive range of assisted driving systems that provide context-aware driving for complex tasks such as lane changes and overtaking. With this comprehensive suite, BMW positions itself as the go-to brand for customers seeking safe and intelligent driving.

Source: BMW

Qualcomm

The launch of Snapdragon Ride Pilot could prove to be a pivotal moment for Qualcomm's advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) business as it enables it to provide a proven full, L2+ advanced driving solution, which has been validated for safety by BMW. The company has announced that the Snapdragon Ride Pilot technology is available for other automakers and Tier-1 suppliers to implement. They can choose a ready-to-use set of capabilities or develop their own drive policies.

Source: Qualcomm

Snapdragon Ride Pilot has been validated in 60 countries and is set to expand to over 100 countries by 2026. This system is continuously trained using data from vehicle fleets, as well as synthetic data and AI-based simulations. This approach enables the platform to learn and adapt effectively by leveraging a data flywheel strategy, which creates a continuous feedback loop for model improvement.

Source: Qualcomm

End-to-End Autonomous Driving (E2E AD) is generating significant buzz in the industry, as many Chinese OEMs have adopted this approach, following Tesla. Qualcomm has adopted a hybrid and progressive approach of combining rule-based path planning, control, and AI-based perception, providing a high level of safety validation and confidence. The perception stack features a bird-eye-view (BEV) architecture, which was first implemented by Tesla.

Source: Qualcomm

Conclusion

In today’s automotive world, partnerships are becoming a critical success factor as two partners come together to develop something new, leveraging each other’s strengths. The BMW and Qualcomm collaboration led to the development of the Snapdragon Ride Pilot platform, the success of which will serve as a proof point for Qualcomm’s ADAS offering, although it has the building blocks to expand its customer base as more OEMs look to adopt advanced driving features.

With the iX3, BMW has made its intentions clear – the company is ready for the shift to software- and technology-driven cars. The OEM’s partnership with Qualcomm offers its customers new technologies, such as City Assist driving and Symbiotic Drive, a system that integrates the driver's actions with AI-supported software to create a seamless and intuitive driving experience.