Nvidia expands ties with Chinese EV makers as auto AI race heats up

Cerence

18/03/2024 22:00

By Joseph White
       DETROIT, March 18 (Reuters) - Nvidia  NVDA.O  said on
Monday it is expanding its collaborations with BYD  002594.SZ 
and other Chinese automakers that are racing to build
self-driving vehicles and AI-augmented infotainment technology
to compete in global markets.
    BYD, which overtook Tesla  TSLA.O  last year as the world's
No. 1 electric vehicle manufacturer, will use Nvidia's next
generation of in-vehicle chips, called Drive Thor, to enable
increased levels of autonomous driving and other digital
functions, Nvidia said. 
    BYD will also use Nvidia technology to streamline factories
and its supply chain, as well as to develop virtual showrooms,
Nvidia Vice President for Automotive Danny Shapiro said during a
conference call.
    "Drive Thor is going into BYD (vehicles) next year," Shapiro
said.
    Chinese automakers BYD, Xpeng  9868.HK  and GAC Aion's Hyper
brand are among several automakers and autonomous truck
developers that announced expanded collaborations with Nvidia on
Monday as part of the chipmaker's GTC developer conference in
San Jose, California. Chinese automakers Zeekr, a unit of Geely,
and Li Auto  2015.HK  had previously said they would use
Nvidia's Drive Thor technology.
    Chinese auto brands are turning to Nvidia as they use
advanced technology to compensate for what they currently lack
in global brand recognition. BYD and its rivals are driving to
expand sales in Europe, Southeast Asia and other markets outside
China, while competing with Tesla and other established Western
vehicle brands in their home market. 
    "There's a massive number of Chinese automakers," Shapiro
said. "They have a lot of incentives in place to innovate, a lot
of regulation that’s favorable" to developing increasing levels
of automated driving.
    Among other new automotive and industrial partnerships
announced by Nvidia on Monday is a collaboration with U.S.
software company Cerence  CRNC.O  to adapt large language model
artificial-intelligence systems for in-car computing, Shapiro
said. 
    Chinese computer maker Lenovo  0992.HK  is also
collaborating with Nvidia on large language model deployment,
Nvidia said.
    Soundhound  SOUN.O  will use Nvidia technology to develop an
in-vehicle voice command system that could allow a vehicle owner
to obtain information from a virtual owners manual using speech
commands.
    Nvidia did not refer to OpenAI or other large language model
AI developers by name.

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PREVIEW-Nvidia offers developers a peek at new AI chip next week
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Nvidia AI developer conference kicks off with new chips in focus
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 (Reporting by Joe White in Detroit
Editing by Matthew Lewis)
 ((Joe.White@thomsonreuters.com;))