Automated Driving for All: Snapdragon Ride Pilot System Brings State-of-the-art Safety and Comfort Features to Drivers Across the Globe

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This blog post was originally published at Qualcomm’s website. It is reprinted here with the permission of Qualcomm.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. introduces Snapdragon Ride Pilot at IAA Mobility 2025

What you should know:

  • Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has introduced Snapdragon Ride Pilot to help make driving more safety-focused and convenient for people around the world.

  • Features new Snapdragon Ride AD software stack co-developed with BMW, making its global debut in the iX3 at IAA Mobility 2025.

  • Snapdragon Ride Pilot allows all automakers to scale ADAS features from entry-level situations to highway and urban driving scenarios.

Crash avoidance technologies such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are becoming increasingly pervasive, with many automakers going beyond basic safety (Level 0-1) to make assisted driving features for highway and urban scenarios (Level 2/2+) the default for modern vehicles. Road users are already reaping the benefits of these technologies.

Automatic emergency braking (AEB) is a great example, which has already shown to reduce backing crashes by 78% and front-to-rear crashes by more than 50%.1 Introducing higher levels of autonomy can further help to reduce the 1.19 million traffic fatalities that occur globally each year.2 In the U.S. alone it’s estimated that ADAS could prevent 250,000 deaths, 14 million injuries and 37 million crashes over the next 30 years.3

Because automated vehicles share sensor and telemetry data, they can operate in coordination and plan their routes in real-time based on current conditions. This helps to improve traffic flow, reducing congestion and travel times. Which is great news for drivers, who waste an average of 43 hours a year in traffic, costing each driver about $771 in lost time and productivity.4

Given their potential to reduce crashes and improve personal mobility, Qualcomm Technologies believes automated driving (AD) features should always be available to assist drivers, becoming as prevalent as seat belts. We are constantly working to expand the reach of these technologies, developing solutions that can easily be deployed across regions and vehicle tiers.

An eye toward safety

To help make driving more safety-focused and convenient for people around the world, we’ve launched Snapdragon Ride Pilot, an automated driving system that includes a newly developed Snapdragon AD software stack running on the Snapdragon Ride Platform. Validated in more than 60 countries, and more than 100 planned by 2026, the software allows automakers around the world to scale ADAS features from entry-level situations to highway and urban driving scenarios.

  • Snapdragon Ride Assist for mainstream safety features allows automakers to meet new car assessment program (NCAP) requirements for a 5-star safety rating and offers convenience functionality for consumers like highway assist, including features such as automatic emergency braking and lane centering with adaptive cruise control.
  • Snapdragon Ride Pilot for highway and urban navigation allows for hands-free, eyes-on, map-following capability up to 85 mph, adapting speed and trajectory when keeping within and changing lanes on approved highway networks, while also supporting more complex urban scenarios such as busy intersections, stop and go traffic and giving right of way.

Co-developed with BMW

Featuring Qualcomm Technologies’ AI-first perception stack and drive policy, in collaboration with BMW, the new Snapdragon Ride AD software stack allows automakers and Tier-1 suppliers to build scalable assisted driving solutions with flexibility, cost savings and fast time-to-commercialization.

The result of a long-term collaborative effort with BMW, the Snapdragon Ride AD software has been demonstrated as a safety-critical feature for their Neue Klasse vehicles, making its global debut in the iX3 at IAA Mobility 2025. The new driver assistance system scales from single-camera, stack-based active safety features to multi-camera, multi-radar system enabling highway and urban driving scenarios.

Featuring Qualcomm’s AI perception stack

Now in its fifth generation, Qualcomm Technologies AI perception stack features 360-degree perception that augments camera-based vision with low-level perception using cameras and radar to create a birds-eye-view (BEV). This layered approach helps to reduce tracking latency and optimize system performance. The perception stack allows the system to detect and interpret the vehicle’s surroundings with super high fidelity so it can recognize lanes, understand traffic signals, assist with parking, monitor drivers and generate online AI-based maps, enabling the Snapdragon Ride Pilot system to handle complex urban scenarios including intersections.

Trained using more than a million miles of data collected across more than 100 countries, the perception stack is built with a foundation of safety and learnings from multiple successful deployments of the Arriver perception stack around the globe.

Now running on Snapdragon Ride SoCs

Pairing the new AD software with our high-performance, power-efficient Snapdragon Ride SoCs allows automakers to build a range of assisted driving experiences. Take the perception system for instance, an automaker can use a single camera and multiple radar to launch basic safety features in an entry-level car, moving all the way up to 11 or more cameras, five or more radars, and any lidars needed to support more complex functionality in high-tier luxury vehicles.

The robust heterogeneous compute resources of Snapdragon Ride SoCs make it well-equipped for processing this incoming sensor data in real-time, powering ADAS features as well as a richer, more personalized experience in the cockpit.

Adapting on the road with AI

The new AD software uses a combination of rule-based and AI-based planning to deliver more intelligent and context-aware driving experiences. Evolving from rule-based to AI-based planning allows the driver assistance system to handle massive amounts of incoming sensor data as the vehicle travels through highly complex and variable environments such as dense urban intersections. Capable of running large models while simultaneously processing input from multiple perception systems, an AI planner uses a data-driven approach to learn and adapt in real-time.

By intelligently identifying the most relevant data for each driving scenario, the AI planner processes information rapidly and comprehensively to navigate complex urban environments with an ability to interpret critical inputs enable real-time, without relying on preloaded maps.

Better with every mile

The Snapdragon Ride Pilot system continually collects rich vehicle and sensor data while driving on the road, and uses a data-driven, AI-based flywheel so that automated vehicles equipped with Snapdragon Ride Pilot are always improving.

Our data simulation factory, a critical component of Snapdragon Ride, uses vehicle fleet information to evaluate and refine machine learning models, allowing the driver assistance system to detect more objects and extend the areas where it can operate over time. To further improve model accuracy, the system also uses generative AI to augment drive data, allowing it to learn and adapt to unusual road scenarios.

The data simulation factory also supports bit-accurate reprocessing to inform ongoing feature development and innovation. New features can be developed in the cloud and deployed in the vehicle. With plenty of headroom to grow, vehicles powered by Snapdragon Ride can be dynamically configured throughout their lifecycle allowing automakers to continually refine their solutions, and consumers to upgrade or subscribe to new features and services on-demand.

Qualcomm Technologies is committed to working with automakers, Tier-1 suppliers and the entire ecosystem to bring assisted and automated driving solutions to more vehicles and road users around the world.

Dive deeper with our white papers

Anshuman Saxena
VP, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Rajat Sagar
VP, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

References

  1. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute. (July 2025). CRASH AVOIDANCE TECHNOLOGIES: Real-world benefits. Retreived on August 13, 2025 from: https://www.iihs.org/media/290e24fd-a8ab-4f07-9d92-737b909a4b5e/_mTwzA/Topics/ADVANCED%20DRIVER%20ASSISTANCE/IIHS-HLDI-CA-benefits.pdf
  2. World Health Organization. (December 13, 2023). Road traffic injuries. Retrieved on August 13, 2025 from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries/
  3. Edmunds. (September 14, 2023). AAA Study Finds Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Could Prevent 250,000 Deaths. Retrieved on August 13, 2025 from: https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/aaa-study-finds-advanced-driver-assistance-systems-could-prevent-250000-deaths.html?msockid=21990d6637a267343776188036306601
  4. INRIX. (2024). INRIX 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard. Retreived on August 13, 2025 from: https://inrix.com/scorecard/

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