According to reports, mobile chip maker Qualcomm Technologies divulged a processor chip for the car called Snapdragon Ride Flex SoC that handles both assisted driving and cockpit functions, including entertainment.

“Previously those functions were handled on different chips and merging them can help bring down costs,” says Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm's head of automotive.

Duggal says, “Obviously you are reducing the number of physical boxes. So it goes down to a single box. You reduce the amount of memory that you need. The extra external components that you need, those go down.”

Qualcomm has been progressively structure up its automotive business in recent years and in September it said its automotive business ‘pipeline’ increased to $30 billion.

With electric vehicles and increasing autonomous features in cars, the number of chips used by automakers is surging and the automotive market has been a key growth area for chipmakers.

Duggal says, “Automotive customers are already trying out the new chip and it would be commercially available in the first half of next year.”

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