Volvo taps Nvidia for a broader automated-driving system beyond its EVs

Volvo is bringing Nvidia deeper into how its future cars sense their surroundings, make driving decisions and evaluate safety. The companies announced an expanded partnership on October 15 for an automated-driving system intended to navigate urban streets and highways, TechCrunch reported. The effort extends beyond battery-electric cars to plug-in hybrids and gas-powered vehicles.

From an EV computer to a common platform

The relationship already stretches back nearly a decade. All of Volvo’s battery-electric vehicles use Nvidia’s Orin computer, which processes information from cameras, radar and other sensors. That computing helps a vehicle understand its surroundings and make driving decisions.

Alwin Bakkenes, Volvo’s head of software development, described the agreement as part of a change in how the automaker builds technology. Volvo previously organized development around individual vehicle lines and worked with various suppliers, he said. It has since shifted toward developing a full technology platform intended for electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and gas-powered cars.

The next step is greater standardization on Nvidia’s Hyperion architecture, including its sensor set, Bakkenes said. Volvo will combine the Nvidia technology with its own vehicle safety systems and engineering.

Two driving systems running together

• Hyperion supplies the sensor and computing architecture—the hardware foundation that Volvo intends to standardize on more broadly.
• Alpamayo supplies the driving software stack, the collection of software components used to build the automated-driving system.
• Halos supplies the safety evaluation layer, alongside the vehicle safety systems and engineering that Volvo brings to the partnership.

Ali Kani, who leads Nvidia’s automotive division, described the driving software as redundant and diverse. One part uses Alpamayo’s family of AI models, datasets, simulation and development tools. It runs alongside a second, more traditional software system that also uses machine learning, with camera and radar perception.

Kani also said more than 650,000 developers had downloaded the open-source Alpamayo software. That figure describes developer downloads, not vehicles equipped with the system.

A new vehicle comes first

Volvo’s rollout will begin with a brand-new vehicle. Bakkenes said it will arrive in the “not-too-near future” and debut within the decade. He left room for the technology to reach further vehicles afterward.

Volvo did not disclose the partnership’s value or name the first model.