NVIDIA Launches New Supercomputer on Wheels
- By CDOTrends editors
- September 28, 2022
Artificial intelligence leader NVIDIA has launched its next-generation centralized computing solution for safe and secure autonomous vehicles.
Called DRIVE Thor, it is described as a “centralized car computer unifying cluster” that combines infotainment, automated driving, and parking “in a single cost-saving system.”
DRIVE Thor replaces the earlier DRIVE Atlan and is the first AV platform to incorporate an inference transformer engine, which can accelerate the inference performance of deep neural networks by up to 9 times, which NVIDIA says is “paramount for supporting the massive and complex AI workloads associated with self-driving.”
DRIVE Thor achieves up to 2000 teraflops of performance and unifies intelligent functions, such as automated and assisted driving, parking and occupant monitoring, in-vehicle infotainment, and rear-seat entertainment into a single architecture.
With DRIVE Thor, manufacturers can consolidate many functions on a single system-on-a-chip, which eases supply constraints, simplifies design, and delivers lower cost, weight, and cabling.
The chip interconnect technology runs multiple operating systems and enables the sharing, scheduling, and distribution of work with minimal overload, and gives automakers the compute headroom and flexibility to build software-defined vehicles which are continuously upgradable through over-the-air updates.
Available for automakers' 2025 models, DRIVE Tor will accelerate production roadmaps for bringing higher performance and advanced features to the market.
“Advances in accelerated computing and AI are moving at lightspeed,” said Jensen Huang, founder, and chief executive of NVIDIA.
“DRIVE Thor is the superhero of centralized compute, with lightning-fast performance to deliver continuously upgradable, safe, and software-defined supercomputers on wheels.”
NVIDIA has invested over 15,000 engineering years into safety across its full-stack, which has a unified safety approach across the entire system from the data center to the fleet.
Chinese automaker Geely has announced that its ZEEKR electric mobility brand will incorporate DRIVE Thor on its centralized vehicle computer for next-generation electric vehicles, with production starting in early 2025.
Image credit: iStockphoto/kaptnali