Nvidia has sharply expanded the roster of partners for its autonomous vehicle development platform. Hyundai Motor, Nissan Motor and Isuzu, as well as Chinese automakers BYD and Geely, have newly joined, CNBC reported on March 16 local time.

The cooperation focuses on building systems based on the Nvidia Drive Hyperion platform to support Level 4 autonomous driving technology.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (젠슨 황) said at the company’s annual GTC conference, "A ChatGPT moment has come to the autonomous driving sector," adding, "I have become confident in the possibility of success for autonomous driving, and today I am announcing four new partners for a robotaxi-only platform." He added, "The number of vehicles supporting robotaxis will be at an astonishing level."

No vehicles currently sold to consumers can drive on their own without human monitoring. Alphabet unit Waymo operates a Level 4 autonomous robotaxi ride-hailing service, but most commercially sold vehicles remain at Level 2, where drivers must continuously monitor the system, CNBC reported. Drive Hyperion is part of Nvidia’s "end-to-end" autonomous driving platform, integrating data center training, large-scale simulation and in-vehicle computing.

Nvidia does not directly manufacture or sell autonomous vehicles or related parts. Existing customers of Drive Hyperion include autonomous driving specialists such as Aurora and Nuro, as well as Sony Group, Uber Technologies, Jeep brand owner Stellantis and electric vehicle maker Lucid Group.

Autonomous driving is seen as a new growth engine for Nvidia. Wall Street analysts and auto industry executives have identified autonomous driving as a multi-trillion-dollar growth industry and see artificial intelligence as playing a key role in expanding adoption of autonomous vehicles.