Nvidia is cementing its presence in the autonomous vehicle space by introducing a new artificial intelligence platform designed to help cars make decisions in complex, real-world conditions. The move reflects the company’s broader strategy to take AI beyond digital tools and embed it into physical systems that operate in public environments.
The platform, named Alpamayo, was introduced by Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang during a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. According to the company, the system is built to help self-driving vehicles reason through situations rather than simply respond to sensor inputs. This approach is intended to improve safety, particularly in unpredictable traffic conditions where human judgment is often required.
Nvidia says Alpamayo enables vehicles to manage rare driving scenarios, operate smoothly in dense urban settings, and provide explanations for their actions. By allowing a car to communicate what it intends to do and why, the company aims to address long-standing concerns around transparency and trust in autonomous driving technology.
As part of this effort, Nvidia confirmed a collaboration with Mercedes-Benz to develop a fully driverless vehicle powered by the new platform. The company stated that the vehicle is expected to launch first in the United States within the next few months, followed by expansion into European and Asian markets.
Although Nvidia is widely known for the chips that support today’s AI boom, much of the public focus has remained on software applications such as generative AI systems. Industry attention is now shifting toward physical uses of AI, including vehicles and robotics, where decision-making errors can have serious consequences.
Huang noted that Nvidia’s work on autonomous systems has provided valuable insight into building large-scale robotic platforms. He suggested that physical AI is approaching a turning point similar to the rapid rise of conversational AI tools in recent years.
A demonstration shown at the event featured a Mercedes-Benz vehicle navigating the streets of San Francisco without driver input, while a passenger remained seated behind the wheel with their hands off. Nvidia explained that the system was trained using human driving behavior and continuously evaluates each situation before acting, while also explaining its decisions in real time.
Nvidia also made the Alpamayo model openly available, releasing its core code on the machine learning platform Hugging Face. The company said this would allow researchers and developers to freely access and retrain the system, potentially accelerating progress across the autonomous vehicle industry.
The announcement places Nvidia in closer competition with companies already offering advanced driver-assistance and autonomous driving systems. Industry observers note that while achieving high levels of accuracy is possible, addressing rare and unusual driving scenarios remains a major technical hurdle.
Nvidia further revealed plans to introduce a robotaxi service next year in partnership with another company, although it declined to disclose the partner’s identity or the locations where the service will operate.
The company currently holds the position of the world’s most valuable publicly listed firm, with a market capitalization exceeding 4.5 trillion dollars, or roughly £3.3 trillion. It briefly became the first company to reach a valuation of 5 trillion dollars in October, before losing some value amid investor concerns that expectations around AI demand may be inflated.
Separately, Nvidia confirmed that its next-generation Rubin AI chips are already being manufactured and are scheduled for release later this year. The company said these chips are designed to deliver strong computing performance while using less energy, which could help reduce the cost of developing and deploying AI systems.
