As a way of helping vehicle manufacturers meet evolving driver expectations, Qualcomm Technologies and Google Cloud have expanded their existing relationship to help automakers deliver enhanced in-car experiences through agentic artificial intelligence (AI).
Essentially, the latest collaboration brings together Google Cloud’s Automotive AI Agent, enabled by Google’s Gemini models, with Qualcomm Technologies’ suite of Snapdragon Digital Chassis solutions to help automakers build and deploy multimodal, hybrid edge-to-cloud AI agents.
Google and Qualcomm Technologies first started working together in 2016 with the first embedded Android experience powered by Snapdragon, laying the groundwork for in-car infotainment. The relationship has since expanded to include AI-enabled cockpit systems with integrated voice control and navigation, as well as efforts to scale Android Automotive OS updates across the industry.
The new venture is said to demonstrate the two firms’ shared commitment to transforming vehicles into connected, intelligent environments by combining Snapdragon Digital Chassis with Google’s operating systems and cloud services to deliver cutting-edge in-car experiences for consumers.
Commenting on the reasons for the latest collaboration, Shiv Venkataraman, vice-president for applied AI at Google Cloud, said AI could redefine a carmaker’s ability to provide experiences in and around the vehicle, making it more intuitive, personalised and helpful for drivers and passengers.
“Through our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, we are putting automakers firmly in the driver’s seat,” he remarked. “This collaboration delivers a secure, brand-owned platform that allows automakers to design advanced AI companions capable of multi-modal, multi-lingual and multi-intent capabilities. This is a clear example of how our joint innovation is accelerating the future of mobility.”
Nakul Duggal, group general manager of automotive and industrial and embedded IoT at Qualcomm Technologies, said the automotive industry is on the verge of a major transformation driven by breakthroughs in generative AI and software-defined vehicles.
“Our technology collaboration with Google Cloud marks a significant milestone in unlocking new possibilities for automakers, empowering them to create digitally advanced and personalised experiences for their customers,” said Duggal. “We are excited to pair our industry leadership in automotive technology to help the broad ecosystem bring new AI-driven experiences to the market faster and effectively.”
The two tech firms believe that by integrating Automotive AI Agent with Qualcomm Snapdragon Digital Chassis solutions, automakers will have a “robust” set of tools to create and deliver intelligent, customisable AI experiences that move beyond simple commands to enhanced, conversational, personalised agents in and around the vehicle.
The tools are designed to evolve as Google’s Gemini models advance in agentic capabilities, ensuring automakers can benefit from Google’s ongoing investment in multi-modal AI models. Automotive AI Agent fully supports agentic AI experiences across the Qualcomm Technologies’ automotive portfolio.
Furthermore, the companies note that with their combined systems, automakers can also reduce system development times by leveraging an optimised reference architecture and pre-built capabilities for essential use cases, such as conversational navigation, media and entertainment, and vehicle controls.
The integration between both solutions is also intended to allow automakers to create branded and interactive experiences using Google’s Gemini and other models running on the edge and in the cloud. This hybrid approach is said to orchestrate on-device and on-cloud inferencing for maximal flexibility.
