At the close of the GTC 2016 keynote, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced that the company will be using its Drive PX 2 autonomous driving system module in the all-electric "Roborace" driverless car race, scheduled for 2016 and 2017. This will allow the 10 participating automakers to leverage the computing power of the Drive PX 2 module to achieve more precise high-speed autonomous driving performance. The experience gained from the race will also accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle products.
▲Nvidia announced its participation in the Roborace autonomous vehicle race with its Drive PX 2 autonomous driving module
Following Qualcomm's recent announcement that it will participate in the all-electric "Roborace" autonomous vehicle race, scheduled for 2016-2017, using its LTE data communication chips and Qualcomm Halo wireless charging technology, Nvidia has also confirmed its participation in the competition with its Drive PX 2 autonomous driving system module. This will allow the 10 participating automakers to design autonomous vehicle systems capable of high-speed driving.
The "Roborace" autonomous car race was announced by Formula E organizers, the FIA, at the end of November last year. Scheduled to take place during the 2016-2017 Formula E season, the event will collaborate with Kinetik on a new scoring system, with ten manufacturer teams competing. Since all vehicles will be designed with autonomous driving systems, they will be built as autonomous vehicles. Therefore, we expect to see a variety of vehicle designs emphasizing low-wind performance.
Because it relies on computer systems for high-speed autonomous driving, vehicle speeds are expected to reach over 300 kilometers per hour, or around 186 mph (the current Audi RS7 with autonomous driving has a top speed of approximately 149 mph). Compared to the current Formula E standard, which requires a 0 to 100 kph acceleration performance within 3 seconds and a top speed capped at 220 kph for safety reasons, this new driverless car competition will be able to invest more R&D resources in speed competition while also focusing on the operational responsiveness of the autonomous driving computer system.
The experience gained from autonomous driving events is expected to enable the Nvidia Drive PX 2 system to operate with higher precision, and to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle system technology.
▲Since the Roborace driverless car race does not require manual operation by the driver, the vehicle can directly ignore the design of the driver's seat and focus on the lowest air resistance performance, allowing the vehicle to compete in the fastest and most energy-efficient mode.
▲Nvidia is one of the sponsors of the Roborace autonomous vehicle competition. Other sponsors include Qualcomm, which provides its LTE data chip and Halo wireless charging technology.
