Nvidia Previews AI-Powered Cars With Ability to ‘Reason’

Nvidia is reportedly speeding up plans to bring its technology to automobiles.

According to a report Monday (Jan. 5) from Bloomberg News, the tech giant has introduced a platform called Alpamayo that lets cars “reason” in the real world, as CEO Jensen Huang said during a presentation at the CES trade show in Las Vegas.

The company says potential users can retrain the Alpamayo model themselves, with the goal of creating cars that can think their way out of scenarios like traffic-light outages.

The car’s onboard computer will study inputs from cameras and other sensors, divide them into steps and arrive at a solution, Bloomberg said. The report adds that Nvidia is expanding on its work with Mercedes-Benz to create vehicles capable of hands-free driving on the highway that can also navigate city streets.

The first Nvidia-powered car will roll out in the U.S. during the first quarter, said Huang, with Europe following in the second quarter and a debut in Asia in the second half of the year.

“We imagine that someday a billion cars on the road will all be autonomous,” he said.

According to Bloomberg, Nvidia’s presentation also involved AI models and other technology for robots. Huang said the company is collaborating with Siemens to further the presence of AI in the physical world.

The launch comes at a time when carmakers are upping their use of AI to meet increasing vehicle complexity, safety expectations and software integration. As covered here late last year, IBM has noted that manufacturers are turning to machine learning, computer vision and predictive modeling as traditional vehicle programs and factory processes can no longer keep up with modern demands.

The Kaizen Institute adds that increasing pressure to improve efficiency and safety is driving companies to include AI in design, production, logistics and in-car systems.

“That momentum is now driving strategic decisions,” that report added. “A PYMNTS Intelligence analysis found that roughly 75% of automakers plan to integrate generative AI into vehicles this year, a signal that the industry is moving from experimental pilots toward full-scale deployment.”

Meanwhile, this week also saw a report that Uber and Lyft were resurrecting their driverless taxi programs after abandoning the technology.

The ride-hailing companies are developing plans to include driverless cars provided by companies such as the Google-owned Waymo on their apps this year, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

“This level of nitty-gritty, it takes years to build,” Andrew Macdonald, Uber’s senior vice president of mobility, told the WSJ. “It’s not something you can do by flipping a switch.”