May 12, 2017—Toyota and chipmaker NVIDIA will partner on hardware and software projects aimed at bolstering autonomous driving systems with technologies that will reach the market within the next few years, according to The Detroit News.
The Japanese automaker joins companies like Tesla, Volvo and Uber, which have previously utilized Santa Clara-based NVIDIA products in their self-driving efforts. This new partnership will center on artificial intelligence products that allow vehicles to scan, analyze and identify objects and scenarios in the driving environment.
Specific details of the Toyota/NVIDIA partnership were not released with the announcement Wednesday. But the automaker will utilize NVIDIA’s computing platform in its driverless systems.
“Toyota has worked on autonomous driving technologies for over 20 years with the aim of reducing traffic fatalities to zero as an ultimate goal, achieving smoother traffic and providing mobility for all,” Ken Koibuchi, executive general manager at Toyota, said in a statement Wednesday. “Through this collaboration, we intend to accelerate the development of autonomous driving systems that are even more safe and capable.”
The platform Toyota will utilize NVIDIA’s DRIVE PX system, which “fuses data from cameras, lidar, radar and other sensors.” That incoming data is processed by the artificial intelligence system to orient the car with its surroundings, sync with a high-definition map of the driving area and identify potential hazards.
NVIDIA’s also allows for over-the-air updates to keep on-board software current.
“We’re combining breakthroughs in AI and high performance computing to build NVIDIA DRIVE PX, the brain of the autonomous car,” Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement with Toyota is the strongest indication that this autonomous future will soon become a reality.”
