volkswagen + NVIDIA bring I.D. buzz electric bus to life through self-driving partnership

as the 2018 consumer electronics show (CES) gets underway in las vegas, NVIDIA has announced autonomous vehicle partnerships with volkswagen. it comes after NVIDIA’s announcement that it will be making xavier, the AI chip made for self-driving vehicles it announced in 2016, available to customers. volkswagen will use the technology to bring to life their previously announced I.D. buzz electric bus, combining the look of a vintage VW van and the future of driverless cars.

all images courtesy of volkswagen

volkswagen announced that it will use NVIDIA’s drive IX platform in a selection of its upcoming vehicles, including the I.D. buzz electric bus. it will use drive IX technology to create ‘intelligent co-pilot’ applications including convenience and assistance systems based on processing sensor data from both inside and outside of the car. and thanks to deep learning, it will learn to accurately assess situations and analyze the behavior of others on the road.

the concept is volkswagen’s exciting rebirth of the iconic VW microbus, reimagined in electric car form and infused with AI technology for the cockpit and self-driving. volkswagen will also work with drive AR, a new augmented reality-based SDK that works off the same NVIDIA technology platform. volkswagen aim is for the I.D. to go into production in 2022 and will use NVIDIA’s technology to build in features like facial recognition, gesture control and natural language processing.

during CES, NVIDIA also announced a partnership with uber, who has been using NVIDIA’s self-driving technology in its autonomous test cars for a while now. NVIDIA will provide the AI computing systems for its self-driving taxis and freight trucks.