Insider Brief
- Nvidia is expanding separate partnerships with Mercedes-Benz and Volvo Cars to bring its Hyperion compute and sensor architecture, Alpamayo driving software and Halos safety technology into future automated-driving systems.
- Mercedes-Benz plans to combine Nvidia’s stack with its MB.OS platform for urban point-to-point assistance, automated parking, active safety and future SAE Level 4 applications, while also using Nvidia technology in engineering simulation and manufacturing.
- Volvo will use Nvidia Hyperion, Halos OS and Alpamayo in future vehicles designed to handle highways, urban streets and parking, with the technology set to debut in a next-generation model as the automaker gradually introduces eyes-off and mind-off driving.
Nvidia is expanding separate partnerships with Mercedes-Benz and Volvo Cars to bring its computing, sensor and AI software platforms into the automakers’ next generation of advanced driver-assistance and automated driving systems.
According to Nvidia, both collaborations will use Nvidia’s Hyperion compute and sensor architecture, Alpamayo driving software and Halos safety technology, tying the chipmaker more closely to the development of software-defined vehicles capable of handling increasingly complex driving tasks.
Nvidia & Mercedes-Benz
Nividia said Mercedes-Benz will combine Nvidia’s technology with its MB.OS vehicle operating system and its own automotive engineering and safety systems. The companies plan to jointly develop the next generation of driver-assistance and automated driving functions, including urban point-to-point driving, automated parking and active safety features.
The collaboration also supports development of future SAE Level 4 applications, including automated passenger vehicles that Nvidia and Mercedes described as robolimousines. Level 4 systems are designed to perform the full driving task without human intervention under defined operating conditions.
“Nvidia is our most important strategic partner in automated driving,” noted Jörg Burzer, member of the board of management of Mercedes‑Benz Group AG and chief technology officer, development and procurement. “Together, we developed the first Mercedes-Benz assistance system for urban point-to-point driving for the western world,”
Mercedes-Benz’s MB.OS will provide the vehicle software foundation and support over-the-air updates, while Nvidia Hyperion supplies the onboard computing and sensor architecture. Alpamayo provides the driving software and AI reasoning capabilities, and Halos adds a parallel safety layer intended to provide redundancy and operating guardrails.
Mercedes-Benz is also using Nvidia technology outside automated driving, including vehicle engineering simulations and its MO360 digital production system. The companies said they are working to use AI and simulation to improve planning, production efficiency and manufacturing quality across Mercedes-Benz’s factory network.
Nvidia & Volvo
According to Nvidia, it is expanding a partnership with Volvo Cars that began in 2017, with plans to use the same core Nvidia technologies in future vehicles.
Volvo will combine its own vehicle safety systems with Nvidia Hyperion, Halos OS and Alpamayo Stack. The system is expected to handle driving from highways and crowded city streets to parking environments, with Volvo planning a gradual introduction of driving functions that allow customers to take their eyes and attention away from the road under supported conditions.
“Volvo has been synonymous with car safety for almost 100 years,” Volvo Cars president and CEO Håkan Samuelsson said. “By working with NVIDIA, we bring together two distinct strengths: industry-leading safety knowledge and world-class AI technology. That combination gives us a unique opportunity to create safer and more attractive cars for our customers.”
The technology will first appear in a next-generation Volvo model as part of what the automaker has described as its largest product expansion to date. The companies did not specify the vehicle or provide a launch date in the announcement.
Cars as Intelligent Machines
“Accelerated computing has transformed the car into an intelligent machine that can understand the world around it,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA.
Hyperion combines computing and sensors, Alpamayo provides the automated-driving software layer and Halos is designed to add safety systems around AI-driven vehicle functions. Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will each integrate those components with their own vehicle software, safety engineering and development processes.
Mercedes-Benz said the expanded partnership builds on earlier work with Nvidia on urban driver assistance. Volvo, meanwhile, said its decade-long collaboration with Nvidia is becoming more central to its next generation of electric and software-defined vehicles.
