Qualcomm’s Sripriya Raghunathan Discusses Impact of Software-Defined Vehicles and Generative Artificial Intelligence at WCX 2024 

Posted: April 19, 2024

With automotive and technology merging, it’s time to learn and relearn. 

Sripriya Raghunathan, Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., opened day two of WCX with a keynote session on Empowering Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs) with Generative Artificial Intelligence.  

In her role at Qualcomm, she leads software development for the company’s automotive product portfolio, the Snapdragon Digital Chassis and is responsible for developing and integrating automotive solutions on the Snapdragon reference platform and delivering it to customers. 

She shared Qualcomm’s SDV strategy, the impact on the future of the automotive industry and what to expect in the coming years. 

“Software-Defined Vehicles are going to be the future, bringing in value and opportunity to the vehicle ecosystem,” Raghunathan said. 

According to Raghunathan, software is taking the stage in SDV. Looking at the demand, OEMs are interested in in-house development, but the complexity increases because of real-time safety concerns and distributed nature of the vehicle system architecture. 

She believes the answer to simplifying software complexity is with cloud-native design. This methodology demonstrates efficiency and addresses software complexity, while being supported by a robust development ecosystem. 

“Cloud-Native is the new solution but there are still challenges in the automotive industry because there are no standards for software, heterogenous architecture, scaling challenges and a shortage of developers,” Raghunathan said.  

She noted collaboration amongst auto makers is necessary to make these standards and cloud-native will maximize developers’ efficiencies. 

SDVs play a vital role in keeping pace with the ever-changing GenAI landscape. The industry is creating unique in-cabin experiences for consumers, transforming driving experience with GenAI. These experiences are highly personalized and wouldn’t be possible without connectivity. 

AI is searching, predicting, recommending, and assisting every day, and the potential is yet to be seen, according to Raghunathan.  

“Converges of software-defined vehicles and generative AI will take us through the transformation towards winning the digital future of automotive,” Raghunathan said.