Qualcomm has announced its latest automotive partner: none other than Ferrari, with whom it’ll be entering into a “strategic technology collaboration” that will (eventually) see Qualcomm’s automative technology make its way into future Ferrari cars.
As part of the deal, Ferarri plans to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis suite in the future, although there are frustratingly few specifics as to which Snapdragon technologies Ferrari plans to use or which vehicles they’ll be integrated into. The Snapdragon Digital Chassis branding serves as Qualcomm’s overarching brand for its automotive solutions, including Snapdragon Ride (for automated and assistive driver technologies), Snapdragon Cockpit (for in-car experiences and SoCs), and Snapdragon Auto Connectivity (for adding LTE, 5G, and Wi-Fi to cars).
Qualcomm’s announcement does call out that it’ll be working with Ferrari to “design, develop and integrate Ferrari’s digital cockpits,” which would seem to indicate that it’ll at least be relying on Qualcomm’s hardware for the base of future infotainment systems.
Additionally, the new deal will see Qualcomm join as a sponsor of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team, with the Snapdragon logo set to appear on Ferrari’s F1-75 single-seater car.
Ferarri marks the latest major automotive company that’s looking to utilize Qualcomm’s suite of car technology in at least some form, joining other recent announcements at CES 2022 like Volvo, Honda, Renault, and GM. Despite the plethora of deals, though, Qualcomm’s automotive technology is still in the early days, and it’ll still be some time before the company’s chips, components, and services are as widespread in the automotive world as they are in the smartphone market.
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