Nvidia made its name with graphics cards for PCs – but in the last few years the company has become an important partner for the automotive industry. Drivers who are guided by a navigation system will be familiar with a problem: if the lanes of a road are close together, the system cannot recognise which lane the vehicle is in. GPS is not precise enough for this – it can only determine the position to within two to 10 metres – but Porsche Engineering is working on a system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to calculate a more precise position from GPS data.
The necessary calculations can be performed in the vehicle itself, in a compact computer equipped with graphics processing units (GPUs). The hardware platform is manufactured by Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, California. Most PC users associate Nvidia primarily with graphics cards. Or rather: especially fast graphics cards, such as those required for gaming. This reputation dates back to the early 2000s, when the first games with elaborate 3D graphics came onto the market. Those who wanted to play games like Quake 3 or Far Cry without their screen jerking needed powerful hardware.
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The hardware platform is manufactured by Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, California
In the early 2010s, Nvidia noticed that a completely new group of customers had appeared on the scene who were not interested in computer games: AI researchers. Word had spread in the scientific community that GPUs were perfectly suited for complex calculations in the field of machine learning. If, for example, an AI algorithm is to be trained, GPUs that perform computing steps in a highly parallel fashion are clearly superior to conventional sequential processors (central processing units – or CPUs) and can significantly reduce computing times. GPUs quickly developed into the workhorses of AI research.
Nvidia recognised the opportunity earlier than the competition and brought the first hardware optimised for AI to the market in 2015. The company immediately focused on the automotive sector: the company's first computing platform for use in cars was presented under the label Nvidia Drive. The PX 1 was able to process images from 12 connected cameras and simultaneously execute programmes for collision avoidance or driver monitoring. It had the computing power of more than 100 notebooks. Several manufacturers used the platform to bring the first prototypes of autonomous vehicles to the road.
Nividia's Drive-AGX Pegasus hardware enables robotics, among other things. The company also trains neural networks in its own data centres.
Initially, Nvidia relied on a pure hardware strategy and supplied the OEMs with processors. Currently, business in the automotive sector has two pillars: cockpit graphics systems and hardware for autonomous or computer-assisted driving. Sales in the automotive sector grew steadily between 2015 and 2020, but still represent a low share of overall sales. Last year, Nvidia's sales in the automotive sector amounted to 700 million US dollars, which corresponds to a good six percent of total sales; however, sales are increasing by nine percent per year.
