NVIDIA : Automotive Innovations Powered by NVIDIA DRIVE Draw Crowds at CES 2018

There was no escaping the automotive innovations, or the camera-toting crowds gawking at them, at CES 2018 this week in Las Vegas.

NVIDIA kicked off the show with a torrent of new partnerships and autonomous driving solutions. Uber, Volkswagen, Aurora, ZF, Baidu and Mercedes-Benz all announced new initiatives with NVIDIA. The announcements brought the total number of partners developing on the NVIDIA DRIVE platform to more than 320.

Around the North Hall, attendees at the world's largest trade show could find our partners at almost every turn. Starting at the NVIDIA booth, Roborace drew crowds - and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao - with the CES debut of its low-set, sinuous Robocar. The NVIDIA-powered electric race car will take part in a future autonomous series, sanctioned by Formula E.

Nearby in the NVIDIA Holodeck, visitors took a virtual bus trip through time. After donning head-mounted displays they got to experience the transformation of the iconic 1960s era Volkswagen Type 2 microbus into the AI-infused, all-electric VW I.D. Buzz slated for 2022. Holodeck is a VR lab that lets far-flung teams come together in a realistic virtual environment to interact with photorealistic models of their designs.

For attendees interested in seeing self-driving go big in the most literal sense, TuSimple displayed an autonomous Peterbilt truck with NVIDIA DRIVE technology. The company provides a camera- and radar-based technology for autonomous driving. The startup expects to begin commercial operation of their level 4 system - supervised by test drivers - this year.

While NVIDIA has worked with both ZF and Baidu for over a year, a new initiative announced at CES brings the three companies together to realize a commercial solution for autonomous valet parking this year, with production vehicles using AI self-driving technologies expected on the roads of China starting in 2020.

Amid stunning visuals at the Mercedes-Benz booth, the automaker unveiled the NVIDIA-powered MBUX infotainment system. This revolutionary in-cabin experience can learn and adapt to driver and passenger preferences, thanks to artificial intelligence.

Dozens of other NVIDIA DRIVE partners attended the event to share their latest work with the crowds who descended on Las Vegas for the week. We spent time with many of them on the show floor, including Tertavue, Expolorer.ai, Cepton, Navya, HERE, AutonomouStuff, Deepmap, Innoviz, Cognata, Adasky and Torc. Watch our partner recap video above to hear about the latest self-driving innovations.

Take an even deeper dive into the technology at the heart of the autonomous vehicle revolution. Join us in March for the GPU Technology Conference in Silicon Valley.