Nvidia And Bosch Team Up To Build An AI Supercomputer For Your Self-Driving Car

Yet more prep underway for autonomous automobiles.

It is starting to seem like hardly a day goes by without some stunning news in the automated automobiles sector coming out of the shadows. This time it is Nvidia and Bosch’s turn — names you may not really have associated with the automation industry per se.

A recent announcement made by the two companies stated that they are collaborating on creating an onboard computer capable of running the Artificial Intelligence (AI) necessary for self-driving.

The collaboration between the chip maker Nvidia, and automotive supplier Bosch clearly arises with their aim to develop an AI-powered computer intended to make self-driving cars a mass-market product.

This computer could estimably be built upon the solid processor that Nvidia’s upcoming Xavier chip is expected to be.
Based on Nvidia’s current Drive PX technology, which also currently powers Tesla’s autonomous vehicles, Xavier is stated to be capable of 20 trillion operations per second while drawing just 20 watts of power.

What this truckload of jargon basically means is that the automobile-computer that will come into existence as a result of this collaboration should be smaller and cheaper than Nvidia’s current Drive PX 2 unit and beat it’s performance by a mile and a half!

“We want automated driving to be possible in every situation. As early as the next decade, driverless cars will also be a part of everyday life. Bosch is advancing automated driving on all technological fronts. We aim to assume a leading role in the field of artificial intelligence, too”, Bosch’s CEO, Dr. Volkmar Denner said in a statement.

“Self-driving car is a challenge that can finally be solved with recent breakthroughs in deep learning and artificial intelligence,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia’s founder and CEO. “Using DRIVE PX AI car computer, Bosch will build automotive-grade systems for the mass production of autonomous cars”.

So what’s in the deal for the both of them?

Well, it’s quite simple. It gives Bosch a solid chipset to erect it is AI-powered self-driving capabilities upon. On the other hand, for Nvidia, the partnership with the automotive component giant would help it get a ready market for it’s newest chip and help integrate that chip into several automakers’ cars at immense scale. With this move, the company will be able to bring its upcoming chip to the attention of various automobile brands of considerable repute.

This comes after Nvidia, the chip designing and manufacturing company, managed to line up quite a few partners at CES this year, including the likes of Audi and Mercedes.

Nvidia, however, is not the only one trying to sail a boat in those waters.

Recently, Intel, another one of the world’s bigger chip makers, bought MobilEye for USD 15 billion. This was clearly based on the intent of developing self-driving software and hardware to use across auto brands. Given that MobilEye, for now, has about 70% of the market share in the supply of integrated cameras, chips and software for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

Bosch with this partnership is only gearing up to give the Big Daddy a challenge.

All this said and dusted, and however fast these companies try to outrun each other, there is still quite some time before any of us will actually be driven around in autonomous vehicles.

In the meantime, lets sit back and watch this journey unfold.

Originally published at Chip-Monks.