Thriving Amid Auto EV/AV Uncertainty Requires Holistic Solutions
A futuristic autonomous sports car created using Stable Diffusion.
Tirias Research
Watching and waiting for the automotive market to transition to autonomous vehicles (AVs) has been a painful experience. Even as it appeared that the market was ready to make the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), geopolitics and consumer sentiment have resulted in a slow transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). In 2024, 55% of all passenger vehicles were ICE vehicles, and the percentage is even higher in the US at 80% according to the OICA (Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles or International Organization of Vehicle Manufacturers). In addition, global sales of vehicles have been slowing in 2024 and 2025. As a result, most of the semiconductor companies aiming to provide complete EV/AV (electric vehicle/autonomous vehicle) platforms have struggled.
Disclosure: My company, Tirias Research, has consulted for Qualcomm and other companies mentioned in this article.
Semiconductor sales by industry leaders Infineon and NXP have seen revenues stall or even decrease throughout 2024 and 2025, while one company, Qualcomm, has seen consistent gains and is rapidly approaching the billion-dollar revenue threshold in quarterly sales. Qualcomm was viewed as a latecomer to the vehicle control or ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) segment, yet its revenues are almost double those of the early AV control system leader, Mobileye. So, I asked Qualcomm what is its secret to success in automotive?
The Snapdragon Digital Chassis
Qualcomm
According to Anshuman Saxena, Qualcomm Product Management Lead and Business Manager for Automotive Software and Systems, “Qualcomm’s success can be attributed to three things: connectivity leadership, infotainment, and a system approach.” As he explained, while Qualcomm was a relative newcomer to automotive command and control systems, it had been in the industry with the leading wireless solutions for telematics systems since the early 2000s. This essentially gave Qualcomm a foothold in the automotive market as a critical component supplier. In 2014, Qualcomm announced infotainment solutions and quickly won more than 20 designs in its first year, an astounding figure for the automotive market. More importantly, it opened the door to working with most of the top automotive OEMs and Tier 1 automotive suppliers. Then, in 2021, Qualcomm introduced Snapdragon Ride, the company’s ADAS platform that it continues to build upon. According to Mr. Saxena, while Snapdragon Ride has provided a scalable solution, its most valuable features are the common-based software platform and operating systems that it shares with the infotainment system and the rest of Qualcomm’s AI software stack. “This allows companies to look at the vehicle as a single platform – the software-defined vehicle.”
While the golden egg is the autonomous vehicle, the automotive industry has found value in the Qualcomm platforms beyond just the ADAS level 4 & 5 autonomous vehicles. In fact, the slow transition to EVs has prompted the automotive industry to include many of the advanced ADAS solutions in ICE and HEV platforms. As a result, OEMs and Tier 1s have begun leveraging Qualcomm technology across all automotive platforms, not just future AV platforms, consequently propelling growth for Qualcomm beyond many of its competitors. This is also paving the way for future vehicle designs. As of mid-2025, Qualcomm’s ever-growing automotive revenue pipeline stands at $45 billion.
According to Mr. Saxena and other public Qualcomm information, the company is engaged with automotive manufacturers in every region, with more production cars being introduced throughout 2025 and 2026 using the Snapdragon Ride platform, including the latest Flex SoCs. Additionally, the software stack co-developed with BMW and used on the iX3 platform will be introduced in more than 60 countries with plans for support of more than 100 countries in 2026. Qualcomm has also partnered with other companies for country/region-specific solutions.
The transition to AVs is coming, and many companies are likely to benefit from it, ranging from Nvidia, Mobileye, and Qualcomm to OEMs developing their own solutions like BYD and Tesla. However, the automobile is a very complex machine with multiple functions. Companies that can supply more, if not all, of those functions are likely to be the leaders through the next market inflection.