Nvidia Announces Partnerships With Multiple Chinese Automakers Over Its Next-gen AI Auto Chip

During the ongoing NVIDIA GTC 2024 Conference, Nvidia's Founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, showcased the company's latest advancements in various fields at this conference. Particularly in the automotive sector, Huang announced Nvidia's next-generation intelligent car chip, Thor, and the company's partnership with three Chinese automakers.

At the press conference, Huang unveiled that Nvidia's next-gen automotive smart chip, DRIVE Thor, is specifically designed for the Transformer engine and will be adopted by BYD. Additionally, Nvidia's Automotive Vice President Danny Shapiro revealed on a conference call that BYD also plans to use Nvidia's technology to streamline factories and supply chains, as well as develop virtual showrooms.

In fact, as early as Nvidia's 2023 GTC conference in March last year, BYD and Nvidia had announced a collaboration on intelligent driving technology. BYD plans to develop next-generation models based on the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin high-performance computing platform, achieving intelligent vehicle driving.

Furthermore, NVIDIA also reached agreements with various Chinese auto companies.

There's a massive number of Chinese automakers, Shapiro said. They have a lot of incentives in place to innovate, a lot of regulation that's favorable to developing increasing levels of automated driving.

For example, the Hyper brand under GAC Aion announced that its next-generation L4 self-driving cars would use the DRIVE Thor chip, with plans to start mass production by 2025. Howe will collaborate with Nvidia in areas such as high-performance computing, intelligent driving technology, and deep learning.

Xpeng Motors will also adopt DRIVE Thor as the AI brain for its next-generation models. Last August, Wu Xin Zhou, former Vice President of Autonomous Driving at Xpeng, joined Nvidia and currently serves as the Vice President of Nvidia's automotive business.

Aside from these officially announced partners, other automakers have also clearly stated they will use DRIVE Thor to produce next-gen products. This includes Jike, which is Geely's subsidiary brand, Li Xiang, and WeRide. Reportedly, up to five domestic automakers explicitly stated they would use DRIVE Thor.

Notably, at Nvidia's 2024 GTC conference, the company also showcased the application of AI in the automotive industry workflow, involving many well-known automakers like Nissan, Lynk & Co, Lotus, Hyundai, and Land Rover. According to the presentation, AI technology is widely used in several stages including vehicle research and design, configuration selection, and more.

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