What’s the Difference Between Hardware and Software Accelerated Ray Tracing?

You don’t need specialized hardware to do ray tracing, but you want it. Software-based ray tracing, of course, is decades old. And it looks great: movie makers have been using ray tracing for decades now. But it’s now clear that specialized hardware — like the RT Cores built into NVIDIA’s Turing architecture — makes a… Continue reading What’s the Difference Between Hardware and Software Accelerated Ray Tracing?

Made You Look: GPU Technology Helps Volkswagen Create Eye-Catching Vehicle Designs

Thanks to GPUs, practical vehicle design doesn’t have to be boring. Last month, Volkswagen used the latest in simulation and compute technologies to tailor its design process for both fuel efficiency and style. Striking the elusive balance between form and function called for a collaborative effort. Altair, a global technology company, developed a computational fluid… Continue reading Made You Look: GPU Technology Helps Volkswagen Create Eye-Catching Vehicle Designs

Signed, Sealed, Autonomously Delivered: TuSimple Operates New Kind of Mail Carrier in Self-Driving Pilot

Snail mail has a new set of futuristic, faster wheels. NVIDIA DRIVE partner and autonomous trucking startup TuSimple has been hauling mail more than 1,000 miles between Phoenix and Dallas as part of a two-week pilot with the U.S. Postal Service. Halfway through the test, the self-driving prototypes have already been arriving at the delivery… Continue reading Signed, Sealed, Autonomously Delivered: TuSimple Operates New Kind of Mail Carrier in Self-Driving Pilot

DRIVE Labs: Predicting the Future with RNNs

Editor’s note: This is the latest post in our NVIDIA DRIVE Labs series. With this series, we’re taking an engineering-focused look at individual autonomous vehicle challenges and how the NVIDIA DRIVE AV Software team is mastering them. Catch up on our earlier posts, here. MISSION: Predicting the Future Motion of Objects APPROACH: Recurrent Neural Networks… Continue reading DRIVE Labs: Predicting the Future with RNNs

A Proven Method: DRIVE Constellation Now Supports CarSim Vehicle Model

NVIDIA’s simulation tools for testing autonomous cars in the virtual world now offer more models for validation. Two key simulation companies — Mechanical Simulation, creator of CarSim and TruckSim, and IPG — are integrating their high-fidelity vehicle models into the NVIDIA DRIVE Constellation platform. This means that every aspect of driving — from how long… Continue reading A Proven Method: DRIVE Constellation Now Supports CarSim Vehicle Model

Bird’s-AI View: Harnessing Drones to Improve Traffic Flow

Traffic. It’s one of the most commonly cited frustrations across the globe. It consumed nearly 180 hours of productive time for the average U.K. driver last year. German drivers lost an average of 120 hours. U.S. drivers lost nearly 100 hours. Because time is too precious to waste, RCE Systems — a Brno, Czech Republic-based… Continue reading Bird’s-AI View: Harnessing Drones to Improve Traffic Flow

DRIVE Labs: Pursuing Perfection for Intersection Detection

Editor’s note: This is the second post in the NVIDIA DRIVE Labs series. With this series, we’re  taking an engineering-focused look at individual autonomous vehicle challenges and how the NVIDIA DRIVE AV Software team is mastering them. Catch up on our first post, on path perception, here. MISSION: Intersection Detection Using AI-Based Live Perception APPROACH:… Continue reading DRIVE Labs: Pursuing Perfection for Intersection Detection

DRIVE Labs: How We’re Building Path Perception for Autonomous Vehicles

Editor’s note: No one developer or company has yet succeeded in creating a fully autonomous vehicle. But we’re getting closer. With this new DRIVE Labs blog series, we’ll take an engineering-focused look at each individual open challenge — from perceiving paths to handling intersections — and how the NVIDIA DRIVE AV Software team is mastering… Continue reading DRIVE Labs: How We’re Building Path Perception for Autonomous Vehicles

Tesla Raises the Bar for Self-Driving Carmakers

In unveiling the specs of his new self-driving car computer at this week’s Tesla Autonomy Day investor event, Elon Musk made several things very clear to the world. First, Tesla is raising the bar for all other carmakers. Second, Tesla’s self-driving cars will be powered by a computer based on two of its new AI… Continue reading Tesla Raises the Bar for Self-Driving Carmakers

Driving Drivetrains: Musashi Seimitsu Mobilizes AI Manufacturing

A robot arm glides to scoop up high-precision automotive gears from a glowing cube used for inspections as a nearby autonomous guided vehicle carts heavy parts across the manufacturing floor, yielding to an employee. It’s a glimpse at the future at Japanese auto-parts giant Musashi Seimitsu, the world’s largest manufacturer of transmission gears. But it’s… Continue reading Driving Drivetrains: Musashi Seimitsu Mobilizes AI Manufacturing