AUTONEWS

Nvidia enters the market for driver assistance systems

Nvidia, whose semiconductors are used in data centers, autonomous cars and robots, said Today (14) that it plans to enter the market for technology that helps cars with automated lane change and other driver assistance features.
The change, announced as part of the chip company's annual conference, represents a change of direction for Nvidia. Until now, the company provided the main technology aimed at manufacturing autonomous vehicles that require much more sophisticated computers.
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But these vehicles, some of which are known as “robot-taxis,” remain far from mass adoption. Even before the coronavirus hit the world economy, automakers like General Motors and Ford were lowering their expectations towards autonomous cars.
Many of the driver assistance features that the new Nvidia system will allow, on the other hand, are already available in cutting-edge vehicles with technology from vendors such as Mobileye, an Israeli company owned by Intel.
Danny Shapiro, senior director of automobiles at Nvidia, said the strategy change aims to meet the needs of automakers struggling to maintain two systems-the driver assistance, now available, and autonomous driving technology for the future.
The new Nvidia system means automakers will be able to use a system for both features, saving engineering efforts and using part of the standalone technology to improve driver assistance functions, Shapiro said.
“We have a unique architecture that will allow the automaker to cover all the levels of potential automation they want to provide and put this software-upgradeable system on every vehicle, " Shapiro said.
Nvidia's new stand-alone technology uses the “Orin” processing chip that the company launched in December. Shapiro said he hopes that vehicles using the system can start production in early 2023.

Handout/Reuters