Nvidia’s Clever Approach to Its New Self-Driving Car Model

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took the stage at CES on Monday to deliver a volley of announcements—Nvidia published 10 press releases during his keynote! Many of those announcements focused on Nvidia’s work on physical AI, such as autonomous robots and cars, so it was fitting that a pair of Huang’s favorite remote controlled Disney droids accompanied him onstage.

The biggest physical AI announcement was Nvidia’s release of Alpamayo 1, an AI model for powering self-driving cars that is open-weight, meaning it is free to download. But the model will find plenty of users beyond amateur developers: tech based on Alpamayo will help power Mercedes-Benz’s new CLA cars, which will hit roads in Europe and the U.S. in the first half of this year, followed by Asia, Huang said. Those cars will be able to adjust their speed and steering autonomously, but a human driver will still need to be prepared to take over at any moment.