Leading global automakers, mobility innovators, suppliers and software providers harness NVIDIA accelerated computing to deliver AI from cloud to car. When it comes to self-driving cars, GM said it will use Nvidia’s Drive AGX for its in-vehicle hardware for future advanced driver-assistance systems and in-cabin safety experiences.
The startup recently made deals with commercial vehicle manufacturers including Traton Group, IVECO, and Hyundai to integrate SuperDrive into their trucks. Plus, which has testing its technology on public roads in Texas and Sweden, has targeted a 2027 commercial launch.
Torc
The autonomous vehicle (AV) revolution is here — and NVIDIA is at its forefront, bringing more than two decades of automotive computing, software and safety expertise to power innovation from the cloud to the car.
At NVIDIA GTC, a global AI conference taking place this week in San Jose, California, dozens of transportation leaders are showcasing their latest advancements with NVIDIA technologies that span passenger cars, trucks, commercial vehicles and more.
Mobility leaders are increasingly turning to NVIDIA’s three core accelerated compute platforms: NVIDIA DGX systems for training the AI-based stack in the data center, NVIDIA Omniverse and NVIDIA Cosmos running on NVIDIA OVX systems for simulation and synthetic data generation, and the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX in-vehicle computer to process real-time sensor data for safe, highly automated and autonomous driving capabilities.
For manufacturers and developers in the multitrillion-dollar auto industry, this unlocks new possibilities for designing, manufacturing and deploying functionally safe, intelligent mobility solutions — offering consumers safer, smarter and more enjoyable experiences.
Transforming Passenger Vehicles
The U.S.’s largest automaker, General Motors (GM), is collaborating with NVIDIA to develop and build its next-generation vehicles, factories and robots using NVIDIA’s accelerated compute platforms. GM has been investing in NVIDIA GPU platforms for training AI models.
The companies’ collaboration now expands to include optimizing factory planning using Omnivese with Cosmos and deploying next-generation vehicles at scale accelerated by the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX. This will help GM build physical AI systems tailored to its company vision, craft and know-how, and ultimately enable mobility that’s safer, smarter and more accessible than ever.
Volvo Cars, which is using the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX in-vehicle computer in its next-generation electric vehicles, and its subsidiary Zenseact use the NVIDIA DGX platform to analyze and contextualize sensor data, unlock new insights and train future safety models that will enhance overall vehicle performance and safety.
Lenovo has teamed with robotics company Nuro to create a robust end-to-end system for level 4 autonomous vehicles that prioritize safety, reliability and convenience. The system is built on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX in-vehicle compute.
Advancements in Trucking
NVIDIA’s AI-driven technologies are also supercharging trucking, helping address pressing challenges like driver shortages, rising e-commerce demands and high operational costs. NVIDIA DRIVE AGX delivers the computational muscle needed for safe, reliable and efficient autonomous operations — improving road safety and logistics on a massive scale.
Gatik is integrating DRIVE AGX for the onboard AI processing necessary for its freight-only class 6 and 7 trucks, manufactured by Isuzu Motors, which offer driverless middle-mile delivery of a wide range of goods to Fortune 500 customers including Tyson Foods, Kroger and Loblaw.
Uber Freight is also adopting DRIVE AGX as the AI computing backbone of its current and future carrier fleets, sustainably enhancing efficiency and saving costs for shippers.
Growing Demand for DRIVE AGX
NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin platform is the AI brain behind today’s intelligent fleets — and the next wave of mobility is already arriving, as production vehicles built on the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor centralized car computer start to hit the roads.
Magna is a key global automotive supplier helping to meet the surging demand for the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture-based DRIVE Thor platform — designed for the most demanding processing workloads, including those involving generative AI, vision language models and large language models (LLMs). Magna will develop driving systems built with DRIVE AGX Thor for integration in automakers’ vehicle roadmaps, delivering active safety and comfort functions along with interior cabin AI experiences.
Simulation and Data: The Backbone of AV Development
Earlier this year, NVIDIA announced the Omniverse Blueprint for AV simulation, a reference workflow for creating rich 3D worlds for autonomous vehicle training, testing and validation. The blueprint is expanding to include NVIDIA Cosmos world foundation models (WFMs) to amplify photoreal data variation.
Unveiled at the CES trade show in January, Cosmos is already being adopted in automotive, including by Plus, which is embedding Cosmos physical AI models into its SuperDrive technology, accelerating the development of level 4 self-driving trucks.
Gatik
Self-driving truck company Gatik, which is backed by Isuzu and Goodyear Ventures, has also joined Nvidia’s automotive ecosystem. The Silicon Valley and Toronto-based company, which specializes in autonomous middle-mile logistics via self-driving box trucks, says it will develop and deploy Drive AGX, accelerated by Drive Thor, to serve as the AI brain across its fleet of trucks. Gatik says it’s also running its AI models on the DriveOS system for safety.
The startup noted that the collaboration will help accelerate the deployment of Level 4 autonomous trucks at scale for the company’s customers, which include Walmart, Kroger, and Tyson Foods.
Plus
Plus, an autonomous trucking software startup, said Tuesday it will use Cosmos world foundation models to accelerate the testing and development of SuperDrive, its autonomous driver.
Plus’s SuperDrive system is built on Nvidia’s Drive AGX platform, according to the company. In a statement, Plus also said that it is pioneering “AV 2.0 technologies, which comprise generative AI, visual language models and other foundational models.” As we can see from the glossary above, Nvidia’s AGX platform is more suited to ADAS and low-level autonomy. To get that more advanced sensor fusion and on-board compute that’s necessary for higher levels of autonomy, usually companies rely on Nvidia’s Orin or Thor SoCs.
Torc
Yet another self-driving truck company, Torc, announced it is working with Nvidia to develop a scalable physical AI compute system for its AVs. Virginia-based Torc, a subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, will also work with Flex, which builds automotive-grade compute platforms.
Torc says it is using a cocktail of Nvidia chip architecture, including Drive AGX, Drive Orin, and DriveOS to support the future deployment of autonomous driving capabilities as it works towards a 2027 commercial launch.
In October 2024, the company achieved its first driver-out test on a closed course in Texas.
Volvo
While Volvo isn’t collaborating with Nvidia to accelerate its automated driving technology, the automaker is relying on Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs to power aerodynamics simulations.
Rather than use Nvidia’s Omniverse simulator, Volvo is working with Ansys, a software simulation company. Ansys’s so-called “Fluent” simulation software, powered by eight Blackwell GPUs, has helped Volvo design its new EX90 electric vehicle in a way that reduces aerodynamic drag and, as a result, improves battery performance.
Ansys says its Fluent simulator helped Volvo reduce total simulation run time from 24 hours to 6.5 hours, allowing for multiple design iterations per day, optimized vehicle design, and accelerated time to market.
