By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas
Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) has announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Autotalks. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
The automotive industry continues to evolve at an unprecedented rate, driven by innovation and digital technologies. Connectivity continues to play a pivotal role in the automotive industry’s digital transformation as it lays the foundation for next generation software-defined vehicles that will enable new business models while transforming the driving experience with new services, personalization and most importantly, safety. Designed to enable vehicles to communicate with one another and to their surrounding environment, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies play an increasingly important role as they become critical sensors for automotive safety systems.
Autotalks is a fabless semiconductor company that has been dedicated to V2X communications since 2009. The company provides automotive qualified dual-mode global V2X solutions compatible with multiple V2X standards that are designed to reduce collisions and improve mobility. The combination of Autotalks’ expertise and industry-leading products with Qualcomm’s 20 years of automotive industry experience and commitment to V2X aims to help accelerate the development and adoption of V2X solutions to improve traffic efficiency and help with driver and road user safety.
Through the acquisition, the production-ready, dual mode, Autotalks standalone safety solutions will be incorporated into Qualcomm Technologies’ expanding Snapdragon® Digital Chassis product portfolio, the company’s comprehensive set of cloud-connected automotive platforms.
“We have been investing in V2X research, development and deployment since 2017 and believe that as the automotive market matures, a standalone V2X safety architecture will be needed for enhanced road user safety, as well as smart transportation systems,” said senior vice president & GM, automotive, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc, Nakul Duggal. “We share Autotalks’ decades-long experience and commitment to build V2X technologies and products with a focus on solving real-world road user safety challenges. We look forward to working together to deliver global V2X solutions that will help accelerate time-to-market and enable mass market adoption of this very important safety technology.”
“It has been our mission to revolutionize safety for the transportation and automotive industry through our V2X solutions,” said CEO of Autotalks, Hagai Zyss. “We are confident that by combining our knowledge and expertise, we will not only deliver strong V2X products that will enhance transportation efficiency and safety for road users but will accelerate widespread adoption of V2X. We look forward to serving the auto industry together with Qualcomm and to bring the best technologies to market.”
The broad spectrum of potential customers and industry leaders have voiced positive support for this acquisition:
“We’re working closely with Qualcomm Technologies to power our next-generation vehicles with cutting-edge technology and hardware enabling premium experiences in the space of automated driving for our customers,” said chief executive officer, CARIAD, a Volkswagen Group company, Dirk Hilgenberg. “In this space, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies are increasingly important and essential to ensure the safety of automotive systems, so we welcome these joint efforts.”
“At Continental, we remain committed to developing safe and innovative automotive connectivity solutions that paves the way for future mobility,” said head of product line telematics at Continental Automotive, Douglas Cochrane. “We look forward to working alongside both Qualcomm Technologies and Autotalks to not only advance intelligent mobility for the industry, but to help make driving safer and more efficient with V2X technologies.”
“There are a number of promising benefits that V2X applications could deliver at scale, and we are eager to continue to work with companies like Qualcomm to find ways to bring those benefits to customers,” said vice president, Software Defined Vehicle and Operating Systems at General Motors, Scott Miller. “The shift to electrification continues to pave the way for new innovations and technologies that will transform the customer experience and GM is committed to moving quickly to do that in vehicles today and in the future.”
“HARMAN’s leading C-V2X solutions support building safer roads, relieving traffic congestion and improving sustainability, and as one of the select few companies recently approved by the FCC to operate roadside and on-board C-V2X technologies on US roadways, we are focused on working with trusted partners in the automotive ecosystem to help develop advanced automotive technologies that will deliver safer communications between the vehicle and its environment,” said SVP, Connectivity, HARMAN, Ram Iyer. “As a longstanding technology partner of Qualcomm Technologies, we look forward to their joint efforts with Autotalks to strengthen efforts towards accelerating global adoption and widespread commercialization of V2X communications.”
“Qualcomm Technologies is a longtime and strong technology partner of Quectel in the automotive sector where we have worked closely to advance communication technologies for years,” said president and CSO of Quectel, Norbert Muhrer. “We believe Qualcomm Technologies’ continued expansion of V2X solutions will help enhance safety for all on roadways. We congratulate Qualcomm on their Autotalks acquisition and look forward to extending the strong working relationship we have with Qualcomm Technologies to Autotalks.”
“The Snapdragon Digital Chassis has played a pivotal role in ushering in Renault’s next generation of software-defined vehicles,” said, alliance global vice president of software factory, Renault Group, Thierry Cammal “With connectivity being more imperative than ever in advancing software-defined vehicle architectures, we congratulate Qualcomm Technologies and Autotalks for joining forces to support reliable and high-performing V2X solutions for the Automotive market.”
“As companies committed to enhancing transportation for all, Rolling Wireless and Qualcomm Technologies have been strong technology partners in anticipating and meeting the needs of customers as well as industry trends, including V2X,” said CEO, Rolling Wireless, Dan Schieler. “Autotalks solutions are also an integral part of our current V2X portfolio and roadmap. We’re extremely pleased with the news that Qualcomm Technologies will acquire Autotalks and look forward to strong new V2X products that will come to market.”
“V2X communications has demonstrated how connected vehicle technologies are transforming the industry, while remaining a must-have for the automotive industry as it is helping to pave the path towards advanced safety on the roads and autonomous driving,” said SVP & GM of Automotive, Module and Antenna Business Group, Wistron NeWeb Corporation, Fayu Chen. “We believe the combined efforts of V2X leaders, Qualcomm Technologies and Autotalks, will help support this need through the development and deployment of strong V2X products.”
