[240322] #NVIDIA #Seyond #Hesai

1. Plus Advances the Development of Next-Generation Vision Models, Built on NVIDIA DRIVE, for AI Processing in its Self-Driving Software

• Plus, a global provider of autonomous driving software, is collaborating with NVIDIA for the advanced development of AI-driven vision models.
• Plus’s vision models will run on NVIDIA DRIVE Thor, an automotive-grade and safety-compliant compute platform.
• Plus’s autonomous driving software identifies nearby objects, plans vehicle course, predicts object movement, and controls the vehicle safely.
• The system achieves performance in birds-eye view (BEV) and 3D occupancy detections using transformers and multi-view camera input.
• Plus’s system is trained on NVIDIA’s data center AI solutions.
• NVIDIA DRIVE Thor features the new Blackwell architecture, processing up to 1,000 trillion floating-point operations per second (teraflops).
• The computing power aids the autonomous driving system in understanding the environment and making safe driving decisions.
• Plus emphasizes the importance of technical performance and automotive-grade assurance provided by NVIDIA DRIVE Thor.
• NVIDIA DRIVE Thor is designed for ASIL D functional safety, crucial for safety-critical applications like autonomous vehicles.
• Plus will utilize DRIVE Thor’s safety features and the functionally safe DRIVE OS for deploying future generations of its SuperDrive solution.
• This collaboration aims to manage onboard perception tasks essential for safe self-driving trucks, marking a transformative shift in the transportation sector.

2. Seyond to Expand LiDAR Solutions for Autonomous Vehicles with NVIDIA DriveWorks and Omniverse Integration

• Seyond collaborates with NVIDIA to integrate its LiDAR solutions into NVIDIA DriveWorks and Omniverse platforms.
• This collaboration aims to enhance the design, development, and testing of autonomous vehicles.
• NVIDIA’s GPU hardware will be utilized alongside Seyond’s LiDAR for processing point cloud data, improving autonomous driving capabilities.
• NVIDIA DriveWorks, a foundation for autonomous vehicle software development, now includes Seyond’s LiDAR as a versatile tool.
• The integration enables developers to more easily integrate Seyond’s LiDAR into their vehicle designs using DriveWorks’ automotive-grade middleware and accelerated algorithms.
• NVIDIA Omniverse, a platform for integrating Universal Scene Description and RTX rendering technologies into 3D applications, will benefit from Seyond’s LiDAR for high-fidelity simulation in AV development.
• Seyond’s Falcon LiDAR sensor offers exceptional per-point precision and ultra-long-range capabilities, providing unparalleled accuracy for AV applications.
• Falcon LiDAR has been integrated into several NIO and Faraday Future models, offering high safety levels for autonomous driving and driver assistance.
• Seyond emphasizes its commitment to producing high-quality LiDAR solutions to advance safer and more efficient autonomous driving and smart infrastructure solutions globally.
• Seyond is a member of NVIDIA Inception, a program supporting startups revolutionizing industries with technological advancements.

3. Applied Intuition Launches Automated Parking Development Solution for ADAS and AD

• Applied Intuition introduces a new automated parking development solution for ADAS and AD engineering teams.
• The solution aims to accelerate the development, testing, and deployment of ML-based or classical automated parking systems (APS) by up to 12 times.
• APS are challenging to develop due to diverse operational design domains (ODDs), unpredictable vehicle and pedestrian movements, and nonlinear vehicle dynamics.
• Applied Intuition’s solution addresses these challenges by providing pre-constructed ODD taxonomies, test suites, and maps for customized simulations.
• It offers 360-degree sensing and perception testing using multi-sensor software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation.
• Data mining and curation are included to optimize AI/ML development by assembling new training datasets quickly.
• Synthetic parking datasets are provided to train ML-based perception targeting specific edge cases and data gaps.
• Realistic simulated vehicle dynamics and behaviors are modeled accurately for testing planners and training ML-based planners.
• Cloud orchestration ensures scalability for simulation tests across various operational design domains.
• The solution enables faster development of APS, reduces cloud simulation costs by up to 70%, and improves ML-based perception performance on target edge cases by up to 3 times.

4. Leapmotor Equips its Latest EV with Hesai Lidar

• Hesai Technology and Leapmotor announce a strategic partnership to enhance intelligent driving experiences using Hesai’s high-performance automotive lidar products.
• The partnership builds on their collaboration since 2021, where Leapmotor’s C platform models have been equipped with Hesai’s AT128 long-range lidar.
• The all-new C10 EV by Leapmotor is the latest vehicle to incorporate Hesai’s AT128 lidar.
• Zhu Jiangming, Founder and Chairperson of Leapmotor, expresses confidence that the collaboration with Hesai will improve Leapmotor’s intelligent driving solutions, accelerate product upgrades, and enhance safety.
• Leapmotor recently formed a joint venture with Stellantis Group to expand global sales of its high-tech, cost-efficient products leveraging Stellantis’ assets and commercial expertise.
• As a key supplier for Leapmotor, Hesai will contribute significantly to providing advanced intelligent driving systems globally.
• David Li, Co-Founder and CEO of Hesai Technology, emphasizes the importance of the partnership in advancing safety technology and expanding ADAS lidar into new markets.
• Hesai has launched a diverse portfolio of lidar products to meet the growing demand for intelligent driving systems, increasing their popularity.
• Leapmotor and Hesai plan to continue exploring opportunities to enhance intelligent driving technology and introduce innovative driving solutions worldwide.

5. Nuro selects NVIDIA DRIVE Thor to power its Nuro Driver autonomous driving system

• Nuro announces plans to develop its next-generation AI-first Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving technology on the NVIDIA DRIVE Thor compute platform.
• The integration aims to create a streamlined autonomous system on a centralized System-on-Chip (SoC), enhancing efficiency and prioritizing safety.
• This collaboration between Nuro and NVIDIA signifies a crucial step toward scaled deployment of autonomous vehicles, expanding the applicability of Nuro Driver across various commercial and consumer vehicles.
• The Nuro Driver will utilize the upcoming NVIDIA DRIVE Thor, powered by the new NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, designed for transformer, LLM, and generative AI workloads.
• The integrated autonomous driving system will comprise Nuro’s proprietary AI-first software, automotive-grade sensors, and NVIDIA’s automotive-grade compute and networking hardware.
• NVIDIA DRIVE Thor is designed to centralize all intelligent vehicle functions for safe and secure autonomous vehicles, offering up to 1,000 teraflops of high-performance compute and enabling software-defined features and capabilities.
• This partnership facilitates wide commercial deployment of the Nuro Driver by consolidating sensor processing, AI-first autonomy, and safety-critical components into a centralized compute unit.
• Both Nuro and NVIDIA prioritize safety, with Nuro having a proven track record of over 1 million autonomous miles driven on public roads with zero at-fault incidents, and NVIDIA DRIVE Thor designed for the highest levels of functional safety.
• Nuro’s CEO and co-founder, Jiajun Zhu, emphasizes the collaboration as a significant advancement in realizing their mission to improve everyday life through robotics.
• NVIDIA’s vice president of automotive, Rishi Dhall, highlights the complexities of building autonomous driving technology and commends Nuro’s use of NVIDIA DRIVE Thor to power its AI-first L4 autonomous driving technology.
• The Nuro Driver has been integrated into seven platforms, including passenger vehicles, delivery robots, and trucks, and has conducted tens of thousands of deliveries for partners such as Kroger and Uber Eats.
• Nuro plans to partner with automotive companies to enable them to develop their autonomy products through licensing the Nuro Driver technology.
• The next-generation Nuro Driver, featuring NVIDIA DRIVE Thor, is currently under development and will commence testing later this year.