Konstantin Savusia – stock.adobe.com
Chinese automaker BYD announced on March 23 its collaboration with the graphics chip giant NVIDIA on intelligent driving technology. BYD will use the NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion computing architecture in some of its new energy vehicles (NEVs) for its automated driving and parking functions. The partnership is expected to kick off in the first half of 2023.
BYD’s NEVs will feature the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin SoC, the world’s highest performance automotive-grade SoC, as the centralised computer and AI engine for automated driving and intelligent cockpit features.
“Software-defined autonomy and electrification are some of the driving forces behind the automotive industry’s transformation. Through the power of AI and the NVIDIA DRIVE platform, BYD will deliver software-defined EV fleets that are not only safe and reliable but also improve over time,” said Rishi Dhall, Vice President of Automotive, NVIDIA.
BYD has become the leading brand of new energy vehicles in China. In 2021, it achieved up to 600,000 units of global sales of new energy passenger cars, and its cumulative production and sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 1.5 million units.
In the last fiscal year, NVIDIA reported revenue within the automotive sector of $566 million (3.61 billion yuan). Meanwhile, the company’s data centre and gaming business generated $10.61 billion (67.59 billion yuan) and $12.46 billion (79.38 billion yuan) respectively. As more firms team up with the chipmaker, its automotive business is well placed to become as important to its bottom line as its gaming and data centre branches.
