Nvidia has announced a significant expansion of its cooperation with the world's leading company BYD and other Chinese electric car manufacturers, including the development of autonomous vehicles with artificial intelligence.
The move deepens Nvidia's ties to China's electric vehicle industry, despite the United States banning it from exporting its most powerful artificial intelligence hardware to China.
BYD, which overtook Elon Musk's Tesla in sales in the last quarter of 2023, is the latest Chinese car firm to use Nvidia's DRIVE Thor, a universal vehicle management system that is enhanced by powerful generative AI functions.
"Today we are announcing that BYD, the world's largest electric car company, is adopting our next-generation (AV computer)," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at a developer conference, AFP reported.
Nvidia indicated that other major Chinese EV firms, including XPeng, Li Auto, ZEEKR and GAC Aion, have also adopted the Thor platform, which was first announced in 2022.
"DRIVE Thor is about to revolutionize the automotive landscape, ushering in an era where generative artificial intelligence defines the driving experience," Nvidia said in a statement.
The company said BYD will also use Nvidia's infrastructure for "cloud-based AI development and training technologies."
According to Nvidia, Thor is expected to be implemented in production cars as early as 2025.
The company has become one of the most valuable businesses in the world thanks to the AI craze sparked by the success of OpenAI's ChatGPT.
However, under US rules, the company is barred from selling its most powerful chips to Chinese companies.
Washington has said the restrictions are intended to prevent China's military and security services from obtaining technology that could help develop advanced military equipment and applications, including AI.
Beijing has described these restrictions as "harassment" and "technological terrorism".
Danny Shapiro, Nvidia's vice president of automotive, has told US media in the past that the restrictions do not affect customers in that sector.
AFP asked Nvidia whether its products and services for the automotive industry were affected by the US restrictions.
And there are concerns in Beijing about the broad relationship between Chinese electric vehicle companies and American technology suppliers.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has "quietly asked" auto companies such as BYD to increase purchases from domestic chip makers to reduce their dependence on foreign firms, Bloomberg reported last week, citing unnamed sources. sources. /BGNES