Qualcomm claims ‘significant’ progress on cellular vehicle-to-everything tech

Chip giant Qualcomm has revealed that a number of cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) products from automotive and infrastructure suppliers, featuring its 9150 C-V2X Platform, have completed certification in accordance with the European Radio Equipment Directive (RED) Certification.

The tech company began 2020 by announcing a new platform at the CES trade show, Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride, designed to accelerate autonomous driving and pave the way to in-vehicle autonomy with what it called a scalable, customisable and power-efficient autonomous driving platform.

It aimed to address the complexity of autonomous driving and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) using hardware, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and an autonomous driving stack.

C-V2X is a global solution for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and V2X communication designed to enhance road safety and facilitate smart transportation systems, including support of automated driving.

Developed by the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) organisation, C-V2X establishes the foundation to support safety use-cases with a path for integration into next-generation 5G technologies, while tapping into the broader 3GPP ecosystem to drive wider adoption. With its evolution to 5G New Radio, C-V2X is seen as a candidate solution to satisfying the rich and differentiated experiences demanded by consumers in the world of 5G and autonomy.

A new European Standard defining the use of C-V2X as an access layer technology for Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) devices was recently approved through the European Telecommunication Standardisation Institute (ETSI).

In addition, all the ETSI standards and specifications that define other ITS protocols above the access layer have been updated to support utilisation of C-V2X as the underlying access layer. These standards and specifications have been included in the ETSI ITS Release 1 specification set and provide the basis for development of interoperable C-V2X ITS implementations and devices from multiple suppliers.

RED certification will potentially further Qualcomm’s presence in the sector as it is a requirement for placing radio equipment on the market and thus potentially a major step forward toward the commercial introduction of C-V2X in Europe.

The following products, all of which feature the Qualcomm 9150 C-V2X chipset solution, have now achieved RED certification: Commsignia On-Board Unit (OBU); Commsignia Roadside Unit (RSU); Ficosa OBU; Kapsch RSU; Savari MobiWAVE 2000 OBU; Savari StreetWAVE SW2000 RSU; WNC module.

Qualcomm expects C-V2X to gain global momentum and anticipates that early product availability will accelerate adoption of the solution in the region. It noted that field tests were transitioning to early deployments in China while in the US similar trials had shown the “significant” range, reliability and performance advantage of C-V2X direct communications, in addition to the ability for C-V2X to work in congested environments.

The firm also note that in Europe, the recent plug tests organised by ETSI and 5GAA demonstrated multi-supplier interoperability, while multiple corridor projects are being planned to test the technology on the road, starting from 5G-CARMEN and Concorda projects.

“In the past few months, we have seen tremendous momentum for C-V2X around the world. Thanks to our joint efforts with leading automotive and infrastructure companies, there are now multiple RED-certified C-V2X products, which paves the way to C-V2X commercialisation in Europe,” said Dino Flore, vice-president of technology at Qualcomm Europe.

As it was making its technology announcement, Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a 5% increase in the company’s quarterly cash dividend.

The quarterly cash dividend will increase from $0.62 to $0.65 per share of common stock and will be effective for quarterly dividends payable after 26 March 2020. This dividend increase will raise the annualised dividend payout to $2.60 per share of common stock. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf remarked: “We are pleased to announce an increase in our quarterly dividend, reflecting our continued commitment to returning capital to stockholders.”