NVIDIA has launched a new centralised computer for autonomous vehicles. DRIVE Thor achieves up to 2,000 teraflops of performance, and embeds automotive functions such as automated and assisted driving, parking, driver and occupant monitoring, digital instrument cluster, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and rear-seat entertainment. This is incorporated into a single architecture which improves efficiency and lowers system cost.

DRIVE Thor supports multi-domain computing, isolating functions for automated driving and IVI. Many functions can be consolidated on a single system-on-a-chip (SoC), which eases supply constraints and simplifies vehicle-design development, resulting in lower cost, less weight and fewer cables.

The computer incorporates an inference transformer engine, a new component of the Tensor Cores within NVIDIA GPUs. With this engine, DRIVE Thor can accelerate inference performance of transformer deep neural networks by up to 9x, supporting massive and complex AI workloads associated with self driving.

The system also has an 8-bit floating point (FP8) capability, which improves neural-network accuracy. DRIVE Thor features 2,000 teraflops of FP8 precision, allowing a transition to 8-bit without losing accuracy.

“Advances in accelerated computing and AI are moving at lightspeed,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “DRIVE Thor is the superhero of centralised compute, with lightning-fast performance to deliver continuously upgradable, safe and secure software-defined supercomputers on wheels.”

Geely-owned automaker ZEEKR has announced it will integrate DRIVE Thor on its centralised vehicle computer for its next-generation intelligent electric vehicles, starting production in early 2025.

ZEEKR CEO An Conghui said: “ZEEKR users demand a luxury experience that includes the latest technology and safety features. NVIDIA DRIVE Thor will support our mission of providing cutting-edge technology that fulfills the needs of our customers and ensures ZEEKR remains at the forefront of tomorrow’s innovations.”

“The shift to software-defined vehicles with centralised electronic architectures is accelerating, driving a need for more powerful and more energy-efficient compute platforms,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst at Guidehouse Insights. “The virtualisation, high-speed data transfer and massive processing performance of NVIDIA DRIVE Thor can enable safer vehicles, better user experiences and potential new revenue streams.”