NVIDIA has bet heavily on artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. At CES 2018, Jensen Huang, CEO of the company, showed Drive Xavier. That is the first processor for autonomous cars that has impressive specifications among which the presence of its Volta chips stands out.
According to NVIDIA, Drive-Xavier is the most complex chip. It has 9 billion transistors distributed in the space of 350 mm². And comes under the process of 12 nanometers. Jensen Huang says that Drive Xavier condensed more than 8,000 years of research. And have the special design to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles.
NVIDIA Drive Xavier is the first chip for autonomous vehicles # CES2018
Drive Xavier processes all the data that an independent vehicle needs. Such as radar, LIDAR sensor, signs, lanes, traffic lights, route layout and more. NVIDIA showed some applications of Drive Xavier in a virtual reality environment. However, the most striking was one applied in the real world, where a car was able to drive autonomously for 13 kilometers.
The demonstration, held in New Jersey, included 23 intersections, eight complex turns, two stops for a signal. The presentation inside the simulator showed how the automated system reacts to other vehicles and applies the brakes or the lane change.
NVIDIA closes agreements with Uber and Volkswagen
Among all the announcements and demonstrations, NVIDIA took several moments to reveal its business partners. The manufacturer signed an agreement with Baidu to promote the development of cars that drive alone in China. Another critical partner is Uber, who will implement Drive Xavier in their autonomous vehicles.
NVIDIA left the best for last and announced that it closed an agreement with Volkswagen to distribute Drive Xavier on its autonomous vehicle platform. The German manufacturer had a few minutes on stage to discuss the application of the new NVIDIA chips in their vehicles, while Huang showed the classic model of the wagon (or Combi) adapted to the 21st century.
Availability of NVIDIA Drive Xavier
Jensen Huang said the first Drive Xavier test drives will get to carmakers and business partners during the first quarter of this year. And we are waiting for it to be applied by the end of 2018.