There will be no chip shortage in upcoming Stellantis vehicles: Starting in 2024, the automotive company’s brands such as Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat, and Peugeot will incorporate Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis connected-car platform into the communication, information, and entertainment systems on its cars and trucks.
The two companies announced the collaboration Thursday morning, with the first applications coming in the infotainment components of unspecified Maserati models.
The press release also touts such future upgrades as over-the-air updates to improve a car’s performance and allow “features on demand,” AI-driven personalization for individual drivers, more responsive driver and passenger interfaces, and remote diagnostics and fixes are all mentioned.
“This will ultimately better meet the needs of our customers’ lifestyles through safe, personalized, and always-connected features,” said Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares.
Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon Digital Chassis at the San Diego firm’s tech summit in Hawaii in December last year alongside its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile chipset. It combines 5G connectivity with processors, sensors, and cloud services to provide such features as assisted or automated driving, personalized interfaces, vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, and onboard diagnostics.
The Stellantis release does not mention using Qualcomm’s Digital Chassis to allow cars to drive themselves or assist a human in driving them. However, at Qualcomm’s summit, Cadillac chief marketing officer Melissa Grady spent part of a video appearance talking up its ability to power a future version of the Super Cruise hands-free driving system on the car maker’s upcoming Lyriq battery-electric vehicle.
Weeks later at CES, Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon said its vehicle-platform technology will show up in an upcoming Volvo battery-electric SUV (it’s since announced other collaborations with BMW and Ferrari) and touted such future upgrades as a ceiling display that he said could take passenger entertainment “to the next level.”
No such display is mentioned by Stellantis, which may suggest that even Maserati product managers thought it was a bit much.
