NVIDIA ANNOUNCES DRIVE AP2X – WORLD’S MOST COMPLETE LEVEL 2+ AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE PLATFORM
Today at the GPU Technology Conference, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang announced NVIDIA DRIVE AP2X — a complete Level 2+ automated driving solution encompassing DRIVE AutoPilot software, DRIVE AGX and DRIVE validation tools.
DRIVE AP2X incorporates DRIVE AV autonomous driving software and DRIVE IX intelligent cockpit experience. Each runs on the high-performance, energy-efficient NVIDIA Xavier system-on-a-chip (SoC) utilizing DriveWorks acceleration libraries and DRIVE OS, a real-time operating system.
DRIVE AP2X 9.0: AV Innovations Using Surround Perception
DRIVE AP2X Software 9.0, which will be released next quarter, adds a wide range of new autonomous driving capabilities. It includes more deep neural networks, facial recognition capabilities and additional sensor integration options.
To enhance mapping and localization, DRIVE AP2X software will include MapNet, a DNN that identifies lanes and landmarks. For robust and comfortable lane-keeping, a suite of three distinct path planning DNNs will provide greater accuracy and safety.
ClearSightNet allows the vehicle to detect camera blindness, as when the sun shines directly into the sensor, or when mud or snow limits its vision. This allows the car to take action to make up for any sensor obstructions.
For driver monitoring, a new DNN enables facial recognition. Ecosystem partners and manufacturers can enable face identification to open or start the car as well as make seating and other cabin adjustments.
DRIVE AP2X software will also feature new visualization capabilities. To build trust in the autonomous driving capabilities, a confidence view provides vehicle occupants a visualization of the car’s surround camera perception, current speed, speed limit and driver monitoring, all on one screen.
World-Class Planning
NVIDIA also detailed the DRIVE Planning and Control software layer as part of its DRIVE AV software suite.
This layer consists of a route planner, a lane planner and a behavior planner that work together to enable a safe and comfortable driving experience. A primary component of the DRIVE Planning and Control software is NVIDIA Safety Force Field (SFF).
This robust driving policy analyzes and predicts the dynamics of the surrounding environment. It takes in sensor data and determines a set of actions to protect the vehicle and other road users.
With these latest additions, NVIDIA DRIVE AP2X is the only complete Level 2+ automated driving solution, enabling partners to bring AI-powered driving to the roads sooner.
Author: Padmavathy Subramanian - Director of Product Management at NVIDIA, working on the DRIVE AP2X platform
