Nvidia CEO Jensen Hwang delivers the keynote speech during the company’s annual GTC developer conference at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, March 16, 2026.
Josh Edelson | Afp | Getty Images
Nvidia extends its agreements for its autonomous vehicle development activity to Hyundai Motor, Nissan engine and Isuzu, as well as Chinese automakers BYD and Geely, the software and chip giant announced Monday.
The new mergers concern Nvidia’s “Drive Hyperion” platform for AVs. The system helps companies develop and deploy driver assistance and autonomous driving capabilities for “Level 4” autonomous commercial vehicles, capable of driving without human intervention in predefined areas or circumstances.
“We’ve been working on self-driving cars for a long time. The ChatGPT moment for self-driving cars is here,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Monday at the company’s GTC conference. “We now know that we could successfully drive cars autonomously, and today we are announcing four new partners for Nvidia’s robotaxi-ready platform. …The number of robotaxi-ready cars in the future will be incredible.”
No vehicle currently on sale to consumers is capable of driving itself without human supervision or intervention, but some companies, like The alphabet Waymo offers rideshare fleets with Level 4 autonomous vehicles, also known as robotaxis. Most vehicles on sale today are considered Level 2, with drivers required to constantly monitor the systems.
Drive Hyperion is part of what Nvidia calls its “end-to-end” AV platform that includes data center training, large-scale simulations and embedded computing. The company does not produce or sell autonomous utility vehicles or many of the components required to operate such vehicles.
Nvidia’s current customers for Drive Hyperion include many standalone companies such as Aurora and Nuro, as well as other more consumer-oriented companies such as Sony Group, Uber Technologiesparent Jeep Stellantis and manufacturer of electric vehicles Lucide Group.
AVs are important to Nvidia because self-driving cars remain one of the key areas where the chipmaker can show growth outside of artificial intelligence.
Many believe AI could be the key to the proliferation of AVs, which Wall Street analysts and auto executives have targeted as a multibillion-dollar growth industry.
The new companies add to a growing list of such tie-ups for Nvidia, as the chipmaker and auto and technology industries attempt to capitalize and proliferate AVs after years of failed robotaxis projects.
Waymo has been leading the AV industry for years, while others like TeslaUber and from Amazon Zoox is trying to catch up.
General enginesWaymo-backed Cruise, which was previously seen as a leader alongside Waymo, disbanded amid controversy after a pedestrian was dragged by one of its vehicles in San Francisco. GM spent more than $10 billion on Cruise before ending robotaxi operations in 2024.
—CNBC Katie Tarasov contributed to this report.