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Nvidia’s Teraflop Chip Enables Self-Aware Cars

Nvidia-Renovo-Coupe

Nvidia-Drive-CX-board

In a big shift from last year, when its stand was all about gaming, Nvidia focused on automotive applications at the 2015 show.

Nvidia’s new Tegra X1 chip is a quad-core device using four ARM A57 cores and four A53 cores, as well as 256 GPU cores. The chip consumes 10W and is said to possess 1TFLOP of computing power. The device can drive two UltraHD displays at 60Hz. It may eventually be used in mobile devices, but for now is being used in the Drive PX and CX solutions.

Nvidia Drive PX and Drive CX are both intended for in-car use, but do very different things. In short, PX will monitor the car’s surroundings while CX will control the internal displays. Think of them as input and output.

Drive PX uses two X1 chips, and is able to handle signals from up to 12 external cameras mounted around the car. The signals can be used for deep learning, self-parking and identifying potential hazards (other cars, pedestrians, emergency vehicles and road signs, among others). The box will be available for OEMs in a few months and will be used in cars in one or two years.

Drive CX, meanwhile is for in-car infotainment, digital clusters and so on.