AUBURN HILLS, Mich.,
Feb. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
Technology company Continental and NVIDIA announced today a
partnership 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.
"The vehicle of the future will be a sensing, planning and
acting computer on wheels. The complexity of autonomous driving
requires nothing less than the full computational horsepower of an
AI supercomputer," said Continental CEO Dr. Elmar Degenhart. "Together with NVIDIA, we will
deliver the complete AI self-driving solution from the cloud to the
car. In doing so, we ensure the performance and flexibility
required to achieve new levels of safety, comfort and personalized
driving of future vehicles."
"We now have all the key elements in place to take AI
self-driving cars from development to mass production," said Jensen
Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Our newly arrived DRIVE Xavier
processor, extensive NVIDIA DRIVE software, and cloud-to-car
approach for testing, validation and functional safety. Combined
with Continental's expertise and global reach, we will bring
autonomous cars to the world."
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.
Continental'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. In 2016, Continental's
sales of advanced driver assistance systems exceeded €1.2 billion.
The company expects ADAS sales to grow to €2.5 billion by 2020.
"Partnering with NVIDIA will enable Continental to advance
beyond its leadership position in advanced driver assistance
systems, delivering a scalable range of automated and autonomous
vehicle systems, from today's NCAP requirements up to Level 5,"
said Luca De Ambroggi, research and analyst director at IHS
Markit.
About Continental
Continental
develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable
and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871,
the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent and
affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transport.
In 2017, Continental generated preliminary sales of around €44
billion and currently employs more than 233,000 people in 56
countries.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA's (NASDAQ: NVDA) invention
of the GPU in 1999 sparked the growth of the PC gaming market,
redefined modern computer graphics and revolutionized parallel
computing. More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI — the
next era of computing — with the GPU acting as the brain of
computers, robots and self-driving cars that can perceive and
understand the world. More information at
http://nvidianews.nvidia.com/.
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SOURCE Continental