Qualcomm has received permission to begin testing its self-driving cars in California. The chipmaker is the latest to join the ever-growing race to bring autonomous vehicles on the road.
On Dec. 13, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issued a new batch of permits for companies hoping to gain a foothold in the self-driving car space. One of the new names that appeared on the list was the popular chipmaker.
While most of the key players in the autonomous space are automakers, there is a growing number of technology companies coming into the fold. Qualcomm's rival NVIDIA and Google's subsidiary Waymo have already announced plans to develop autonomous technology for self-driving cars. Despite the fierce competition, Qualcomm is confident with they will offer.
"We certainly expect to be a key player in the autonomous space," Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm vice president of product management for automotive, told CNBC.
In September, Qualcomm announced the 9150 Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) chipset which allows devices to discover and interact with the outside world. When the C-V2X chipset is integrated into self-driving cars, the autonomous vehicle will be able to communicate with other cars, pedestrians, infrastructures like traffic lights and to the network.
According to Duggal, the 9150 C-V2X chipsets are designed to work alongside other chips and sensors used by autonomous vehicles in order to improve safety. This is because Qualcomm's chip is able to extend the vehicle's ability to see what is happening further down the road, thus providing a higher level of predictability.
The chipset also provides vehicles with a 360-degree non-line-of-sight awareness which is useful at blind intersections or on-ramps.
Qualcomm has begun field trials of Ford vehicles that have been equipped with the 9150 C-V2X chipsets in the chipmaker's home base in San Diego County. Apart from testing in other parts of California, Qualcomm will also conduct tests in Michigan, China, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
