Surprise! Qualcomm Had Two Cars On Display At CES 2024
Qualcomm is best known as the chip manufacturer that produces some of the most powerful silicon you will find in a smartphone. It also makes computing hardware such as the Snapdragon X Elite that we'll see in some PCs later this year. If you need a 5G modem, Qualcomm is a pretty good place to start. Meanwhile, Qualcomm has been making the components for its Snapdragon Digital Chassis for a few years now, and when you think about it, it makes sense.
Cars are becoming more and more like rolling smartphones. With smart technology, always-on connectivity, voice assistants, navigation, and more, cars continue their transition into a whole new computing space. Therefore, it's only natural that Qualcomm is throwing its hat in the ring with components for running those internals, as well as connectivity and a whole lot more.
What is surprising is that Qualcomm flew me out to Las Vegas to see not one but two cars that are showcasing that technology. One is a concept car that shows what might be possible someday. The other is a car you can buy today, though it will cost you. So here's a quick look at both of those cars.
BMW i7 xDrive60
The car you can buy today is the BMW i7 x Drvie60. BMW has been working with Qualcomm for several years now, and this car is the epitome of high-tech. Most of the controls are manipulated on touchscreens, which sometimes isn't ideal, but most car functions, including opening and closing the doors, can be controlled with your voice. With a simple "Hey BMW," you can ask the car to turn up the heat, open the windows, or change the radio station.
Adam Doud/SalshGear
Slip into the back seat, and you're treated to a gigantic 31-inch screen that drops down and contains all your entertainment needs. The video can play in the center of the screen or be swiped over to either side. Further, the door's armrest has a smartphone-sized screen that allows you to change your seat's positioning, adjust the climate control, start a massage session, and change what's on the screen in front of you. It's pretty snazzy.
Adam Doud/SlashGear
Meanwhile, the car is the very definition of luxury, which is probably why the price starts at over $100,000 and goes up from there. But with Merino leather seats, a full massage setup in the back, and all that technology packed in, it earns it, even if its range tops out at an unimpressive 321 miles on a single charge.
Qualcomm automotive concept car
Meanwhile, if you want to know what Qualcomm envisions for the future, you'll want to check out its concept car. This car, built by Qualcomm itself, features screens galore in the front seat and the back, including one that spans the entire cockpit from A-pillar to A-pillar.
In one of the more impressive demos, the car can self-diagnose itself, but it goes further than that. The car has a built-in LLM model, similar to ChatGPT, but trained on the car's specifications and owner's manual. The result is that when you get a notification that something is wrong (in common parlance, a "dummy light"), you can ask the car what is wrong. Not only will the car tell you what returned the error, but it will also tell you how to fix it, and if necessary, it will use cloud integration with Salesforce to find a dealer where you can fix the problem and even schedule an appointment for you.
Adam Doud/SlashGear
The bottom line is Snapdragon Digital Chassis brings a lot more of your smartphone into your car, and Qualcomm, rather than just bolting on an AI model and calling it a day, has put a lot of thought into how AI can be a helpful tool in the future. Voice is a very natural way to work with LLMs, and drivers behind the wheel are in a great position to do so. It remains to be seen how this technology will show up in a production vehicle, but this promise is a good reason to be optimistic.