The integration of cockpit and driving domains is gradually becoming a development trend.
At the 2025 Qualcomm Automotive Technology & Collaboration Summit held today, Zhu Jiangming, founder and chairman of Leapmotor, announced that the next-generation central domain controller for Leapmotor will feature two Qualcomm Snapdragon 8797 chips. These chips will debut in the flagship D series, which is set to enter mass production in the first quarter of 2026. This also means that the D series models will become some of the first vehicles in the world to feature the Snapdragon® Automotive Platform Supreme Edition.
The D series is Leapmotor’s flagship product, planned to be released in celebration of the company’s 10th anniversary. It represents the company’s most advanced technology, focusing on the premium luxury segment. The D series aims to offer configurations typically found in 500,000+ RMB competitive models, while priced between 250,000-300,000 RMB.
In addition to the previously unveiled SUV model, Leapmotor also plans to launch an MPV based on the D platform in the second quarter of next year, with an official market release scheduled for June 2026. Over the next three years, Leapmotor will have four series: A, B, C, and D, covering the 60,000 to 300,000 RMB market.
Currently, most manufacturers differentiate the driving domain and cockpit domain, using two separate chips to handle various functions. For instance, the NVIDIA Thor smart driving chip and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 cockpit chip are common solutions. However, the Snapdragon 8797 is a single chip designed to integrate both domains.
The integration of cockpit and driving domains means that a high-performance computing unit will merge both the cockpit and intelligent driving domains, supporting both intelligent cockpit and autonomous driving functions with just one chip. This architecture reduces development costs, minimizes communication latency, optimizes computing power utilization, enhances functionality, and helps manufacturers shorten development cycles and lower overall vehicle costs.
Since 2022, cockpit-driving integration has been one of the industry’s key focal points. At this Qualcomm summit, Qualcomm announced collaborations with leading automotive industry companies, including BAIC Group, Chery, C-V2X, Desay SV, Huayang Group, Hangsheng Electronics, Mejia Technology, Momenta, Changxing Zhijia, and Zhuoyu Technology, to jointly advance upgrades to the integrated cockpit-driving domain control architecture.
As intelligent driving technology continues to proliferate, the role of intelligent cockpits will expand. Integration between the cockpit and driving domains will gradually become the development trend, with the ultimate goal being the large-scale integration of cockpit domain, driving domain, powertrain domain, chassis domain, and body domain. This will lead to a fully integrated vehicle control system.
As of June 2025, Leapmotor has delivered over 800,000 vehicles globally, ranking among the top tier of new energy vehicle startups. For three consecutive months, Leapmotor has topped China’s new energy vehicle brand sales. From January to May 2025, Leapmotor’s export volume reached 17,200 units, maintaining the position of China’s top exporter in the new energy vehicle market.
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