Volvo Cars and NVIDIA expand automated-driving partnership

Volvo Cars and NVIDIA expanded their automated-driving partnership for a future next-generation Volvo vehicle. The companies said it will use NVIDIA Hyperion, Halos OS and Alpamayo Stack, but did not identify the model, give a launch date or disclose financial terms or planned production volumes.

The planned system would support door-to-door navigation across highways, city streets and parking scenarios, the companies said. They also intend to introduce ‘eyes-off and mind-off’ driving gradually, although the release did not define those terms. These remain forward-looking company claims: the announcement included no rollout timetable, operating conditions, regulatory plan, independent road-test evidence or safety results.

NVIDIA describes Alpamayo Stack as driving software that runs on Hyperion and combines in-vehicle reasoning AI, runtime safety monitoring, validation components and Halos OS. The companies said the combined system is intended to make driving safer and less demanding, but did not provide an SAE automation level or driver-monitoring requirements for the planned functions.

The expansion builds on a relationship documented in a June 2017 announcement. At the time, Volvo Cars, Autoliv, Zenuity and NVIDIA said they would develop self-driving systems using NVIDIA’s DRIVE PX computing platform.

The technology is slated to debut in a vehicle within Volvo Cars’ 13-model product push, which the automaker said covers 13 all-new cars planned through the end of 2030. The companies did not narrow that window for the first NVIDIA-equipped model.