Foxconn and Nvidia announced a partnership to build the basics of automated electric vehicles, wherein Foxconn will produce electronic control units, a type of computer, that relies on Nvidia Drive Orin chips for use by automakers globally.
Nvidia’s Drive Hyperion sensor architecture and development platform will also be integrated in Foxconn’s technology for use in its EV fleets, Nvidia said. The partnership was announced two days before the opening of CES 2023 in Las Vegas where many vehicle and parts suppliers are showing new technology and designs.
Taiwan-based Foxconn is the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and makes iPhones for Apple, but also has vast automotive ambitions and wants to eventually build half the world’s EVs.
Foxconn began producing Lordstown Endurance pickup trucks in September after buying the US company’s Ohio facility. The company also has introduced the Foxconn Model V electric pickup, designed in Taiwan, and will be the manufacturer for Fisker’s Pear vehicle starting in 2024.
The partnership with Nvidia is designed to help the industry build energy-efficient, automated vehicles, according to Eric Yeh, senior director of software development at Foxconn. The Drive Orin SoC and Hyperion development platform are meant to serve as a central nervous system of future vehicles by processing sensor data in real time so autonomous vehicles can sense and act. Orin is capable of 254 TOPS.
The partnership between Nvidia and Foxconn will likely develop over many years, with Foxconn using Nvidia’s SoCs in its ECUs as a Tier 1 supplier for future vehicles from various manufacturers while Foxconn’s own manufactured EVs will run Drive Orin ECUs and Drive Hyperion sensors, said Danny Shapiro, vice president of automotive, in a briefing with reporters.
Hyperion provides carmakers with an open sensing design architecture where companies can pick from a number of qualified radars, lidars and cameras and then collect data and trains with AI. Drive Orin and eventually Drive Thor serve as a processing engine. With the deal, Nvidia hopes to scale up its efforts in the exploding automotive sector while Foxconn gets to speed up its production pace and lower costs.
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Nvidia also announced that Mercedes-Benz will rely on its Omniverse platform to build a digital twin of a Mercedes—Benz plant in Rastatt, Germany, where the all -electric EQA is made. The carmaker has been working with Nvidia to develop software-defined vehicles and its upcoming vehicles will be built on Nvidia Drive Orin and tested with the Nvidia Drive sim in Omniverse.
Nvidia also announced its GeForce NOW cloud gaming service will be coming to cars from Hyundai, BYD and Polestar.