Qualcomm, Alphabet team up for automotive AI; Mercedes inks chip deal

By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) - Qualcomm on Tuesday said it was teaming up with Alphabet's Google to offer a combination of chips and software that will let automakers develop their own AI voice assistants using technology from the two firms.

Qualcomm's chips have long powered mobile phones with Google's Android operating system and the company has expanded into the automotive business, with chips that can power both a car's dashboard and automated driving systems that are used by General Motors and others. On Tuesday, Qualcomm said it is working with Google to create a version of the company's Android Automotive OS that will run smoothly on Qualcomm chips.

While many consumers are familiar with Google's Android Auto and Apple CarPlay that display apps from a phone when plugged into a vehicle, Google's Android Automotive OS is an offering that automakers use behind the scenes to power a vehicle computing systems. Qualcomm and Google said automakers will be able to use the joint offering and Google's AI technology to create voice assistants that are unique to an automaker and can work without relying on a driver's phone.

"Typically, we have operated together, but independently - we plan a lot of things together, but we go to customers separately," Nakul Duggal, group manager for automotive at Qualcomm, said of the Qualcomm-Google relationship. "We decided we should think about this differently because it will reduce a lot of friction and confusion."

Qualcomm on Tuesday also rolled out two new chips, one called Snapdragon Cockpit Elite to power dashboards and another called Snapdragon Ride Elite for self-driving features. The company said Mercedes-Benz Group plans to use the Snapdragon Elite Cockpit chip in future vehicles, though the two companies did not specify when or in which vehicles the chip will appear.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler)