Foxconn to Make NVIDIA DRIVE ECUs
NVIDIA and Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), the world’s largest technology manufacturer, announced a strategic partnership to develop automated and autonomous vehicle platforms.
As part of the agreement, Foxconn will be a tier-one manufacturer, producing electronic control units (ECUs) based on NVIDIA DRIVE Orin™ for the global automotive market. Foxconn manufactured electric vehicles (EVs) will feature DRIVE Orin ECUs and DRIVE Hyperion™ sensors for highly automated driving capabilities.
“This strategic cooperation with NVIDIA strengthens the intelligent driving solutions Foxconn will be able to provide. Together, we are enabling the industry to build energy-efficient, automated vehicles,” said Eric Yeh, senior director of the Software Development Center at Foxconn. “This is a well-considered partnership that leverages unique strengths on each side in the pursuit of innovative EV development and opportunities.”
The partnership with Foxconn will allow NVIDIA to further scale its efforts and meet growing industry demand as more transportation leaders select DRIVE Orin for intelligent vehicles. In addition, by building EVs on the DRIVE Hyperion qualified sensor set, Foxconn will speed up its time-to-market and time-to- cost strategies.
“Our partnership with Foxconn will provide OEMs developing intelligent driving solutions with a world-class supplier that can scale for volume manufacturing of the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin platform,” said Rishi Dhall, vice president of automotive at NVIDIA. “Foxconn’s decision to also use the DRIVE Hyperion sensor suite for its EVs will help accelerate their path to production without compromising safety, reliability or quality.”
The automotive-grade NVIDIA DRIVE Orin system-on-a-chip achieves up to 254 trillion operations per second and is designed to handle the large number of applications and deep neural networks that run simultaneously in autonomous vehicles. NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion is a modular development platform and reference architecture for designing autonomous vehicles. Combined, they serve as the brain and central nervous system of the vehicle, processing massive amounts of sensor data in real time so autonomous vehicles can safely perceive, plan and act.
GeoForce Now Cloud Gaming Coming to Hyundai, BYD & Polestar Vehicles
NVIDIA announced that the high-performance GeForce NOW™ cloud gaming service will be coming to cars. Hyundai Motor Group, one of the world’s largest automakers with the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands; BYD, the world’s leading manufacturer of new energy vehicles (NEVs); and Swedish premium electric vehicle and lifestyle brand Polestar are the first working with NVIDIA to deliver GeForce NOW in their vehicles.
The announcement expands NVIDIA’s vehicle infotainment offerings, which include a suite of products and services that improve the cockpit experience. Coupling NVIDIA’s heritage in gaming and infotainment, GeForce NOW can stream a real-time, full PC-gaming experience beyond desktops, laptops and mobile devices, now to software-defined cars.
The new GeForce NOW offering can enhance time spent charging or riding in vehicles, as it enables front-seat occupants to stream games while parked, and passengers to game in the back seat if screens are available.
“Accelerated computing, AI and connectivity are delivering new levels of automation, safety, convenience and enjoyment to the car,” said Ali Kani, vice president of automotive at NVIDIA. “The ability to stream popular titles from gamers’ libraries along with dozens of free-to-play games will bring the in-vehicle infotainment experience to new heights.”
GeForce NOW uses breakthrough low-latency streaming technology powered by GeForce servers in the cloud, enabling real-time game play with more than 1,000 titles, including top-rated ones such as A Plague Tale: Requiem, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, from leading PC game stores including Steam, the Electronic Arts app, Ubisoft, Epic Games Store and GOG.com. The service also includes many of the most popular free-to-play games like Fortnite, Lost Ark and Destiny 2.
Automakers Log On
- Hyundai Motor Group, which includes as standard NVIDIA DRIVE in-vehicle infotainment systems across its Hyundai, Kia and Genesis lineup, will include GeForce NOW in its vehicles.
- BYD, which is developing its NEVs on the NVIDIA DRIVE® platform, is also working with NVIDIA to bring the in-vehicle cloud gaming experience of GeForce NOW to the international automotive market.
- Polestar, which is also powered by NVIDIA DRIVE centralized compute, will bring the cloud gaming service to its EVs.
Mercedes-Benz announced at CES that it is taking the next step in digitizing its production process, using the NVIDIA Omniverse platform to design and plan manufacturing and assembly facilities.
By tapping into NVIDIA AI and metaverse technologies, the automaker can create feedback loops to reduce waste, decrease energy consumption and continuously enhance quality.
NVIDIA Shares Drive for DRIVE
AI is extending further into the vehicle as autonomous-driving technology becomes more prevalent.
With the NVIDIA DRIVE platform, automakers can design and implement intelligent interior features to continuously surprise and delight customers.
It all begins with the compute architecture. The recently introduced NVIDIA DRIVE Thor platform unifies traditionally distributed functions in vehicles — including digital cluster, infotainment, parking and assisted driving — for greater efficiency in development and faster software iteration.
NVIDIA DRIVE Concierge, built on the DRIVE IX software stack, runs an array of safety and convenience features, including driver and occupant monitoring, digital assistants and autonomous-vehicle visualization.
Automakers can benefit from NVIDIA data center solutions even if they aren’t using the NVIDIA DRIVE platform. With cloud technology, vehicles can stream the NVIDIA GeForce NOW cloud-gaming service without any special equipment. Plus, developers can train, test and validate in-vehicle AI models on NVIDIA DGX servers.
The same data center technology that’s accelerating AI development — in combination with the NVIDIA Omniverse platform for creating and operating metaverse applications — is also revolutionizing the automotive product cycle. Using NVIDIA DRIVE Sim built on Omniverse, automakers can design vehicle interiors and retail experiences entirely in the virtual world.