AI is entering auto cockpits, powered by next-gen NVIDIA RTX

MediaTek has announced it will incorporate NVIDIA hardware into their next-generation cockpits for the automotive industry.

A potential partnership between NVIDIA and MediaTek to integrate RTX GPUs into MediaTek devices is not a new concept. In fact, just last year, there were mentions of both companies exploring this idea for smartphone SoCs. However, this occurred before the actual surge in AI interest, which has since caused NVIDIA’s stock to soar.

NVIDIA also has a rich history in producing hardware for cars, with their NVIDIA Drive platform being unveiled in 2015, powered by Maxwell technology. Subsequently, the system was updated to incorporate more powerful SoCs and GPU architectures, including Pascal, Volta, Ampere, and even Ada Lovelace, although that specific product was ultimately canceled. The most recent iteration, named Drive Thor, was announced two years ago. However, it was only last week that NVIDIA officially confirmed it features the Blackwell architecture.

NVIDIA Drive history

• Maxwell (2015):
  • Drive CX (Tegra X1)
  • Drive PX (dual Tegra X1)
• Pascal (2016):
  • Drive PX 2 (1 or 2 Tegra X2,  1 or 2 Pascal GPUs)
• Volta (2017):
  • Drive PX Xiaver
  • Drive PX Pegasus (Dual Xavier SoC)
• Ampere (2019):
  • Drive AGX Orin
• Ada Lovelace (2021)
  • Drive Atlan (Cancelled)
• Blackwell (2022 announced, 2024 Blackwell confirmed)
  • Drive Thor

Drive Thor is set to power numerous accelerated compute systems in cars from manufacturers such as Li Auto, Zeekr, BYD, Hyper, or XPENG. The objective is to provide feature-rich cockpit capabilities, including Large Language Models and chatbots. Similarly, MediaTek chip design is expected to offer similar functionalities. MediaTek has revealed four new automotive System-on-Chips (SoCs) for its Dimensity Auto Cockpit portfolio: CX-1, CY-1, CM-1, and CV-1, ranging from premium to more entry-level segments.

Dimensity Auto, Source: MediaTek

Furthermore, MediaTek’s SoCs support NVIDIA Drive OS, implying that the underlying hardware and software will be largely consistent across all these automotive manufacturers. This is suggested by the press release. MediaTek only mentions the “next-gen” GPU architecture, which, considering that ‘Blackwell’ has not been released yet, can be assumed to be next-gen. Notably, this announcement coincided with the unveiling of Drive Thor.

To support deep-learning capabilities, the Dimensity Auto Cockpit chipsets integrate a state-of-the-art ARM v9-A system and NVIDIA’s next-gen GPU accelerated AI computing and NVIDIA RTX graphics. The AI-enabled Dimensity Auto Cockpit platform runs large language models (LLMs) in the car, allowing vehicles to support chatbots, rich content delivery to multiple displays, driver alertness detection, and other cutting-edge AI-based safety and entertainment applications. Running applications locally offers improved security, plus speed and latency benefits. To further protect user data, the Dimensity Auto Cockpit incorporates hardware-based security features with support for the latest automotive safety standards.

MediaTek is looking to use this tech for its upcoming auto cockpits, adding ray tracing for cool visual effects in games. While this is mainly for gaming fun through built-in entertainment modes, the GPU AI boost will also help power onboard chatbots and spruce up audio features, making your drive even more enjoyable.

NVIDIA Drive Thor is scheduled to launch early next year, while MediaTek Dimensity Auto Cockpit does not have a firm release date.

Source: MediaTek, NVIDIA