Nvidia and auto suppliers form partnerships to rekindle self-driving efforts

At CES in Las Vegas, Nvidia and several suppliers announced new platforms and partnerships aimed at advancing self-driving and driver-assistance technology; automakers remain cautious about costs, safety and whether there will be enough customer demand.

Tech suppliers, chipmakers and some automakers used the CES show in Las Vegas to unveil partnerships and new platforms intended to push self-driving and advanced driver-assistance technology forward. The industry has seen costly delays and setbacks in past years, and many automakers are weighing whether the needed investment will scale and find sufficient customer demand. Artificial intelligence and generative AI were highlighted as development tools that could reduce resources needed for testing and validation. Some companies announced near-term product rollouts while others remain focused on more limited, revenue-generating driver-assistance systems. Key developments: - AWS and German supplier Aumovio announced a deal to support commercial rollout of self-driving vehicles, the article reports. - Kodiak AI and Bosch said they have partnered to ramp up manufacturing of autonomous trucking hardware and sensors, according to the article. - The article mentions Nvidia unveiled a next-generation platform, Alpamayo, which is planned for use in a robotaxi alliance announced by Lucid, Nuro and Uber. - Mercedes-Benz announced it will launch a new advanced driver-assistance system in the United States later this year that allows supervised autonomous operation on city streets. - The article notes some legacy automakers have stepped back from in-house Level 5 efforts, and that automakers and suppliers remain concerned about high costs, scalability and customer demand. Summary: The announcements at CES signal renewed industry investment in partnerships and AI-driven tools intended to accelerate development and testing, and some firms are preparing limited rollouts and deployments. Significant questions persist about safety, edge cases, costs and whether broader commercial scaling will follow. Undetermined at this time.