Jensen Huang took the stage at the CES trade show in Las Vegas this week to make the clearest pitch yet for Nvidia¡¯s autonomous driving technology. In doing so, the chief executive officer¡¯s vision for vehicles that can drive themselves edged into the terrain of major customers like Tesla and its boss, Elon Musk.
Huang¡¯s remarks sparked a widely watched ¡ª if notably polite ¡ª indirect multiday exchange between two of the most influential figures in technology. It also sharpened a central question about autonomous driving: Who controls the technology that will first power consumer cars that drive themselves ¡ª and later, driverless cars known as robotaxis that are designed for ride-hailing? And whose autonomous vehicle system is the best?
On Monday, Huang used his speech to America¡¯s largest technology showcase to extol the virtues of Nvidia¡¯s Alpamayo, an open-source AI model designed to speed development of Level 4 self-driving cars. Such cars ¡ª consumer-owned at first, and robotaxi-fleet-operated later ¡ª can drive themselves without human supervision or intervention, within a defined geographic area.
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