In 2022, NVIDIA introduced the Drive Thor board for cars, boasting the use of the Grace CPU and Ada Lovelace GPU. However, it ultimately disappeared without releasing any products to the market. (The previous version, Drive Atlan, unveiled in 2021, was also canceled.)
At the GTC 2024 event last night, NVIDIA brought back Drive Thor once again, this time upgrading the GPU architecture to Blackwell, offering enhanced performance. It can now act as a single chip in vehicles supporting both display and autonomous driving functions.
The return of NVIDIA Drive Thor prompted automotive companies to swiftly upgrade their car chips from the Drive Orin (introduced in 2019 with the Ampere chip) to Blackwell.
Automakers planning to incorporate Drive Thor include Chinese brands BYD, the luxury brand GAC AION, Xpeng, as well as Li Auto and Zeekr, as previously announced.
Aside from passenger vehicles, four driverless truck-taxi companies, namely Nuro, Plus, Waabi, and WeRide, will also adopt Drive Thor for their operations.
Source: NVIDIA
The appearance of the NVIDIA Drive Thor chip design.
TLDR: NVIDIA reintroduces Drive Thor at GTC 2024 with upgraded Blackwell GPU architecture for enhanced performance in vehicles, prompting automotive companies to swiftly adopt the latest chip technology.
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