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Automotive What Is Nvidia Doing in Automotive?
Autonomous Vehicle and AI Cockpit

Revenue ($M) Leader in Autonomous Driving
11% 5-YR CAGR NVIDIA DRIVE is our end-to-end Autonomous Vehicle (AV) and
Through FY24 AI Cockpit platform featuring a full software stack and is
powered by NVIDIA (systems-on-a-chip) SoCs in the vehicle
$1,091
DRIVE Orin SoC ramp began in FY23
$903 Next-generation DRIVE Thor SoC ramp to begin in FY26
Over 40 customers including 20 of top 30 EV makers,
$700 7 of top 10 truck makers, 8 of top 10 robotaxi makers
$566
$536
Growth Drivers
Adoption of centralized car computing and
software-defined vehicle architectures
AV software and services:
Mercedes-Benz
FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 Jaguar Land Rover

Figure 1: Nvidia’s automotive revenue (Source: VSI Labs research, April 2024)

model development and packaging for production using industry has become less significant to Nvidia, as the AI explosion has
industry-standard APIs. overwhelmed most other industry segments. However, the AI technol-
NIMs will help expand AI models and applications across the ogy that Nvidia is developing will have a substantial impact on multiple
automotive industry as a NIM software base becomes available for use automotive segments, from AVs and ADAS to SDVs and infotainment.
across automotive segments and use cases. Both Nvidia’s chip and software technologies could advance automo-
tive products and services.
OMNIVERSE IN AUTOMOTIVE? Nvidia Drive continues to grow as an ADAS and AV platform.
In 2012, Pixar developed an interchange framework called Universal Nvidia Drive has over 25 design wins, with at least 50 models using or
Scene Description (USD). Nvidia integrated the USD framework with its expected to rely on Nvidia Drive technology. Drive Orin is reaching vol-
Omniverse, including technologies for modeling physics, materials and ume use among multiple automotive OEMs and will likely continue as
real-time path tracking. a production technology for many years. Drive Thor is gaining design
In 2016, Nvidia released open-source USD software for generating wins, with first deployment expected in 2025 and production projected
3D worlds using OpenUSD applications. OpenUSD provides a rich, com- to extend through 2030 or longer.
mon language for defining, packaging, assembling and editing 3D data Nvidia’s software strategy is as important as its hardware technolo-
to create virtual worlds across many industries, including automotive, gies in the automotive industry. The CUDA platform for using parallel
architecture, construction, engineering, entertainment, media and processing software is a core reason for Nvidia’s success and is gaining
telecom. strength as AI expands in automotive applications. The NIM software
Nvidia Omniverse is now a platform of APIs, software development technology is set to extend Nvidia’s reach in automotive AI software
kits and services that enables developers to integrate OpenUSD and systems.
RTX rendering technologies into existing software tools and simulation Omniverse is another part of Nvidia’s software strategy that will
workflows for building AI systems. (RTX is Nvidia’s ray tracing platform benefit automotive development. The Omniverse platform is projected
for designing complex visual models.) Nvidia’s view is that Omniverse to be a key technology for creating digital twins across automo-
brings AI into the physical world; in essence, Omniverse can mimic and tive activities, from product creation and testing to simulation and
simulate the real world. operation.
A key announcement at GTC 2024 was the Nvidia Omniverse GTC 2024 was a milestone for Nvidia and showed its growing
Cloud, which will be available as APIs. The cloud APIs are expected product portfolio and market reach across technologies and industries.
to extend the reach of Omniverse as the leading platform for creat- The company is best known for its GPU chips, which are the core of
ing industrial digital twin applications and workflows. its product strategy. The Blackwell GPU chip architecture is the latest
The five new Omniverse Cloud APIs let developers integrate core advance in a long string of success stories. The strengths of Nvidia’s
Omniverse technologies directly into existing design and automation software platforms and accompanying chips and hardware will make
software applications for digital twins. Developers can also integrate the company a long-term leader and tough competitor.
their simulation workflows to test and validate autonomous machines Figure 1 shows that Nvidia’s automotive revenue reached nearly
like robots or AVs. US$1.1 billion in the fiscal year ending in January 2024. As a share of
Expect an expanded market presence for Omniverse in the automo- revenue, automotive declined from 6.4% in fiscal year 2020 to 1.8% in
tive industry as digital twins become increasingly important for most fiscal year 2024. This is due to the exceptional growth of Nvidia’s data
automotive developers. AV and SDV digital twins are likely to become center revenue for AI training and related applications. The data center
key Omniverse applications. segment accounted for 78% of Nvidia’s revenue in fiscal year 2024
compared with 27% in fiscal year 2020. ■
SUMMARY
Nvidia is a strong technology supplier to the automotive industry, and Egil Juliussen is a principal analyst at VSI Labs and a contributing
its importance is set to grow over the next decade. The automotive writer for EE Times Europe.

www.eetimes.eu | JUNE 2024