Technology company Continental and NVIDIA are collaborating to create artificial intelligence (AI) self-driving vehicle systems based on the NVIDIA DRIVE platform, with a planned market introduction in 2021 for Level 3 features. The partnership enables the development of AI computer systems scaling from automated Level 2 features to full Level 5 self-driving capabilities, where the vehicle has no steering wheel or pedals.
Dedicated engineering teams from each company will work together to develop self-driving solutions based on the NVIDIA DRIVE platform, which includes NVIDIA DRIVE Xavier™ – the world's highest performance system-on-a-chip – as well as the NVIDIA DRIVE OS (operating system) and DRIVE AV (autonomous vehicle) software stacks. The solutions will utilize Continental's experience in system and software engineering for ASIL D rated safety – the highest rating level – and integrate a range of Continental sensors technologies including radar, camera and high-resolution 3D LiDAR.
As the brain of the Continental system, NVIDIA DRIVE Xavier can deliver 30 TOPS (trillion operations per second) for deep learning, while consuming only 30 watts of energy. This unprecedented level of performance is necessary to handle the massive amount of data processing that self-driving vehicles must perform. These include running deep neural nets to sense surroundings, understanding the environment, localizing the vehicle on an HD map, predicting the behavior and position of other objects, as well as computing vehicle dynamics and a safe path forward.
Open NVIDIA DRIVE Platform Enables Collaboration
Continental and NVIDIA will initially develop highly automated driving features, including 360-degree perception and automatic lane changing on highways, plus the ability to merge in traffic. In addition, the system will integrate HD maps enabling the vehicle to localize themselves and provide mapping updates. The company's expertise in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) integrates multi-function cameras, fish-eye cameras with surround view, as well as short- and long-range radar sensors, high-resolution 3D LiDAR technologies, as well as central control units for assisted and automated driving.
Ready to stop driving but want more info? Visit Continental and NVIDIA.