Qualcomm hopes Alexa and cockpit platform boost car smarts

Qualcomm wants to be the go-to connectivity solution for the automotive industry and has several projects in the works to make that vision a reality.

The company today announced a new version of its Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platform, which will give car and truck makers more flexibility to customize their in-vehicle software offerings. Importantly, it supports artificial intelligence and natural language processing for smoother interactions between car and driver.

Qualcomm is using Amazon‘s Alexa Assistant to demonstrate how this works. It allows drivers to ask the car for directions, information about nearby points of interest, as well as control media playback.

Talking to your car is just the tip of the iceberg, though.

Driver safety plays a big role in the new platform. It will use computer vision, object recognition, and AI to decipher the data created by in-car cameras, sensors, and GPS. This will eventually let cars talk to one another, particularly when approaching certain types of intersections, such as four-way stop signs.

Audi, Ducati, and Ford are some of the first to weigh Qualcomm’s new platform. All three are focusing on the safety aspect of the platform first. They wish to cut down in collisions between cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The city of Las Vegas has agreed to allow testing of Qualcomm-powered cars on some city streets.

There’s no word on when all this tech will reach consumers.

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