Volvo is upgrading its autonomous driving system by expanding its nearly decade-long partnership with NVIDIA. The two companies announced on Thursday that Volvo will adopt three hardware and software technologies from NVIDIA in future vehicle models to create an autonomous driving system capable of operating on urban roads and highways.
According to the expanded cooperation agreement, Volvo will combine its own automotive safety systems and engineering technologies with NVIDIA's Hyperion sensors and computing architecture, Alpamayo autonomous driving software stack, as well as Halos safety assessment system.
Ali Kani, the person in charge of NVIDIA's automotive business ( Ali Kani ), stated that the Alpamayo technology stack adopts a design that is redundant and diverse.
He explained that this technology stack combines Alpamayo with traditional software. Alpamayo is a technical system consisting of artificial intelligence models, datasets, as well as simulation and development tools, used for developing autonomous driving software; traditional software, on the other hand, utilizes machine learning and camera and radar perception technologies to achieve driving functions.
Karni stated, "The key is that we run these two sets of technology stacks simultaneously. In addition, our design philosophy is to use multimodal sensors because this allows us to create safer products."
He added that the open-source Alpamayo software has currently been downloaded by over 650,000 developers.
Volvo has not disclosed the specific amount of this collaboration, nor has it indicated which model will be the first to adopt NVIDIA's new technology stack.
However, Alvin Bucknäs ( Alwin Bakkenes ), the head of Volvo's software development, hinted at the scale of this collaboration and how it reflects Volvo's strategic direction towards a full-stack technology development model. This technical system will not only be applied to pure electric vehicles but also cover plug-in hybrid cars and fuel-powered vehicles.
Bucknases stated, "In the past, automobile manufacturers basically focused on developing different car models and collaborated with various suppliers. But we have completely changed this model and transformed into a company with a complete technology stack."
He added that Volvo will first apply the technology jointly developed by both parties to a new model, but this model “will not be launched in the near future.”
Buckness stated that the first Volvo car equipped with NVIDIA's new technology stack will be unveiled before 2030, "and of course, this technology can later be extended to more models as well."
Although Volvo's collaboration with NVIDIA did not begin today, this expansion of the partnership marks Volvo's effort to apply the latest autonomous driving software to all its vehicle models, rather than limiting it to pure electric vehicles.
Currently, all pure electric vehicles under Volvo utilize NVIDIA's Orin computing chips. These chips are responsible for processing information from cameras, radars, and other sensors, helping the vehicle to perceive its surroundings and make driving decisions.
Bucknases stated, "In the future, we will actually further standardize around Hyperion, including in terms of sensor configuration, in order to truly open up the entire technology stack and deepen our collaboration with NVIDIA even more."
