Nvidia partners with Uber and Volkswagen on autonomous vehicle technology

Nvidia has signed new partnerships with both Uber and Volkswagen on the further deployment and development of self driving technologies.

Uber has selected Nvidia’s technology for the AI computing systems within its fleet of autonomous vehicles, including both self-driving cars and freight trucks.

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The ride hailing company is making significant headway into the emerging market, having already completed over 50,000 rides and covered 2mn miles using autonomous vehicles.

“Developing safe, reliable autonomous vehicles requires sophisticated AI software and a high-performance GPU computing engine in the vehicle,” said Eric Meyhofer, Head of Uber Advanced Technologies Group. “NVIDIA is a key technology provider to Uber as we bring scalable self-driving cars and trucks to market.”

Volkswagen, meanwhile, has announced that it will be using Nvidia’s Drive IX Intelligent Experience software development kit to create AI-based technology for co-Pilot autonomous driving capabilities.

“Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the car,” Volkswagen CEO Herbet Diess said. “Autonomous driving, zero-emission mobility and digital networking are virtually impossible without advances in AI and deep learning. Combining the imagination of Volkswagen with NVIDIA, the leader in AI technology, enables us to take a big step into the future.”

Both of the new partnerships were unveiled at the opening press conference of CES 2018.

This is not the first time that Nvidia has collaborated on self-driving technologies, with the company having also previously signed similar agreements with both Baidu and Tesla.