5 ms·

VW partners with Nvidia to expand its use of AI beyond autonomous vehicles

69 points by janober 9y ago

dovdovdov 9y ago
yay, for better emissions testing detection! ;)
- usrusr 9y ago
  “Obviously, I'm not going anywhere, might just as well switch off the engine entirely" Red light starts pulsing in center console, voice synthesizer: "Michael, are you trying to mess with me?"
netsharc 9y ago
> in the field of mobility services Cars will turn to more of an "as a Service" thing in the sooner-than-you'll-expect-it future, so it makes sense that the manufacturers are doing this. And with data analysis it can probably predict that you're going out tonight, just like 10 other people in your area, so it will make sure to dispatch enough cars to wait in your area, so your Vwuber shows up in 5 minutes instead of needing 30 minutes to get from the giant parking structure outside of town.
- chronic61a 9y ago
  > And with data analysis it can probably predict that you're going out tonight, just like 10 other people in your area, so it will make sure to dispatch enough cars to wait in your area, Uber already does this. I recommend more closely following the technology industry.
Lio 9y ago
Leaving aside VW's liein' and cheatin' ways for a moment. Adaptive cruise control on my Golf is a big thing for me right now. It's one of the reasons I bought that car. For the long journeys I do, not having to have foot on the gas is great. (Normal cruise control doesn't cut the mustard for me as I'd spend the whole drive worrying about the cars in front of me). The current models also have lane assist and a crawl mode for traffic jams. Can't wait to get a car with that. In the short term, before fully autonomous vehicles are wide spread, I can see loads of ways AI could make transport a more pleasant experience.
- mrfusion 9y ago
  The problem is if traffic becomes more tolerable there will be more of it since more people will be willing to endure it. Reminds me of the old saying "there can never be too much traffic. If there was people would stop driving"
  - Ambroos 9y ago
    Autonomous cars drive better in traffic though, since they're not as easily scared by a brake light or caught off guard. I read some research that said that if we'd replace 10% of the cars on high traffic highways with autonomously driving ones, traffic jams would get much, much better. Way less rubberbanding, for example. I test drove an Audi with near complete autonomous driving in traffic jams recently and promptly ordered one with those features as it is simply brilliant in traffic. Much smoother than I can drive in traffic myself, and in Belgium traffic jams are practically unavoidable.
    - computerex 9y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_wave You can place cars driving in a circle and spontaneously traffic jams will occur without the apparent presence of a bottle neck. If a non-significant number of vehicles are autonomous, it'd be easier to control for this. If autonomous vehicles can communicate with one another (as I think will eventually happen) then we'd be able to see something very special where vehicles would be able to travel at speed while maintaining very small marginal distances because machines react faster than humans.
      - wcummings 9y ago
        >we'd be able to see something very special where vehicles would be able to travel at speed while maintaining very small marginal distances Braking distance alone (excluding the reaction time) is going to be over 100ft at highway speeds. Considering how often human drivers tailgate AVs will probably have more space between them on average.
techno_modus 9y ago
It seems that companies try to deal with big technological challenges via worldwide partnership programms. Here is another one: Nvidia and Bosch team up on self-driving car AI supercomputer - https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/16/nvidia-and-bosch-team-up-on-self-driving-car-ai-supercomputer/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/16/nvidia-and-bosch-team-up-o...
RandomBookmarks 9y ago
It seems German car companies are trying hard to not become the next Nokia. Just recently Bosch, Mercedes and Porsche joined forces with local universities in the "Cyber Valley" initiative: https://a9t9.com/blog/facebook-cyber-valley/ https://a9t9.com/blog/facebook-cyber-valley/ Time will tell if this is enough. It certainly is difficult to turn them into software-focused companies. One reason is that everyone who works there right now, went there to work because she/he wants to work on ICE engines, and not all this "modern stuff".
- agumonkey 9y ago
  ICE will probably have to go because of climate impact. But mechanical cars, and other kinds of engine can still be done, albeit not as the 99% monopoly ICE have now.
- dom0 9y ago
  Bosch is (and always was) a company heavily focused on (1) making things electronic (2) making things programmable (3) R&D, they're very modern. While one of the biggest automotive suppliers they never supplied engines or most of the heavy mechanics (gearbox etc.), but rather: [engine] control, which was iirc invented by Bosch, sensors, electronics, firmware, ...
  - hengheng 9y ago
    ABS and ESP are Bosch product names.
- kayoone 9y ago
  Porsche recently established a digital innovations lab here in Berlin and is doing a lot of work for the "connected car" right now https://www.mhp.com/en/the-digitalization/connected-car/ https://www.mhp.com/en/the-digitalization/connected-car/ The new Audis also have pretty nice Assistant Systems and full digital Cockpits. They surely lack behind on electric engines and full autonomy, but i think they understand what the market will look like in 10 years.
  - 9y ago
frabbit 9y ago
How about they just release Free drivers for the latest cards instead? Having seen how wonky their proprietary drivers are I'd rather have something auditable if they're to get anywhere near controlling thousands of Kgs of metal on public roads.
- 2fifty3 9y ago
  They consider the low level information about how their GPU works a trade secret. Source code won't be as helpful as documentation, but it's more work than reverse engineering the driver binaries.
mtgx 9y ago
How is their progress on EVs? That's what I'm more interested in. Before I'd be interested in their self-driving solutions I'd also want to know they're not cutting corners and cheating their way out of strong security architectures for their cars.
Cozumel 9y ago
I'm sorry Dave, I can't tell you the emission levels!
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

69 points by janober 9y ago

dovdovdov 9y ago

yay, for better emissions testing detection! ;)

usrusr 9y ago
“Obviously, I'm not going anywhere, might just as well switch off the engine entirely" Red light starts pulsing in center console, voice synthesizer: "Michael, are you trying to mess with me?"

netsharc 9y ago

> in the field of mobility services Cars will turn to more of an "as a Service" thing in the sooner-than-you'll-expect-it future, so it makes sense that the manufacturers are doing this. And with data analysis it can probably predict that you're going out tonight, just like 10 other people in your area, so it will make sure to dispatch enough cars to wait in your area, so your Vwuber shows up in 5 minutes instead of needing 30 minutes to get from the giant parking structure outside of town.

chronic61a 9y ago
> And with data analysis it can probably predict that you're going out tonight, just like 10 other people in your area, so it will make sure to dispatch enough cars to wait in your area, Uber already does this. I recommend more closely following the technology industry.

Lio 9y ago

Leaving aside VW's liein' and cheatin' ways for a moment. Adaptive cruise control on my Golf is a big thing for me right now. It's one of the reasons I bought that car. For the long journeys I do, not having to have foot on the gas is great. (Normal cruise control doesn't cut the mustard for me as I'd spend the whole drive worrying about the cars in front of me). The current models also have lane assist and a crawl mode for traffic jams. Can't wait to get a car with that. In the short term, before fully autonomous vehicles are wide spread, I can see loads of ways AI could make transport a more pleasant experience.

mrfusion 9y ago
The problem is if traffic becomes more tolerable there will be more of it since more people will be willing to endure it. Reminds me of the old saying "there can never be too much traffic. If there was people would stop driving"
- Ambroos 9y ago
  Autonomous cars drive better in traffic though, since they're not as easily scared by a brake light or caught off guard. I read some research that said that if we'd replace 10% of the cars on high traffic highways with autonomously driving ones, traffic jams would get much, much better. Way less rubberbanding, for example. I test drove an Audi with near complete autonomous driving in traffic jams recently and promptly ordered one with those features as it is simply brilliant in traffic. Much smoother than I can drive in traffic myself, and in Belgium traffic jams are practically unavoidable.
  - computerex 9y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_wave You can place cars driving in a circle and spontaneously traffic jams will occur without the apparent presence of a bottle neck. If a non-significant number of vehicles are autonomous, it'd be easier to control for this. If autonomous vehicles can communicate with one another (as I think will eventually happen) then we'd be able to see something very special where vehicles would be able to travel at speed while maintaining very small marginal distances because machines react faster than humans.
    - wcummings 9y ago
      >we'd be able to see something very special where vehicles would be able to travel at speed while maintaining very small marginal distances Braking distance alone (excluding the reaction time) is going to be over 100ft at highway speeds. Considering how often human drivers tailgate AVs will probably have more space between them on average.

techno_modus 9y ago

It seems that companies try to deal with big technological challenges via worldwide partnership programms. Here is another one: Nvidia and Bosch team up on self-driving car AI supercomputer - https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/16/nvidia-and-bosch-team-up-on-self-driving-car-ai-supercomputer/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/16/nvidia-and-bosch-team-up-o...

RandomBookmarks 9y ago

It seems German car companies are trying hard to not become the next Nokia. Just recently Bosch, Mercedes and Porsche joined forces with local universities in the "Cyber Valley" initiative: https://a9t9.com/blog/facebook-cyber-valley/ https://a9t9.com/blog/facebook-cyber-valley/ Time will tell if this is enough. It certainly is difficult to turn them into software-focused companies. One reason is that everyone who works there right now, went there to work because she/he wants to work on ICE engines, and not all this "modern stuff".

agumonkey 9y ago
ICE will probably have to go because of climate impact. But mechanical cars, and other kinds of engine can still be done, albeit not as the 99% monopoly ICE have now.
dom0 9y ago
Bosch is (and always was) a company heavily focused on (1) making things electronic (2) making things programmable (3) R&D, they're very modern. While one of the biggest automotive suppliers they never supplied engines or most of the heavy mechanics (gearbox etc.), but rather: [engine] control, which was iirc invented by Bosch, sensors, electronics, firmware, ...
- hengheng 9y ago
  ABS and ESP are Bosch product names.
kayoone 9y ago
Porsche recently established a digital innovations lab here in Berlin and is doing a lot of work for the "connected car" right now https://www.mhp.com/en/the-digitalization/connected-car/ https://www.mhp.com/en/the-digitalization/connected-car/ The new Audis also have pretty nice Assistant Systems and full digital Cockpits. They surely lack behind on electric engines and full autonomy, but i think they understand what the market will look like in 10 years.
- 9y ago

frabbit 9y ago

How about they just release Free drivers for the latest cards instead? Having seen how wonky their proprietary drivers are I'd rather have something auditable if they're to get anywhere near controlling thousands of Kgs of metal on public roads.

2fifty3 9y ago
They consider the low level information about how their GPU works a trade secret. Source code won't be as helpful as documentation, but it's more work than reverse engineering the driver binaries.

mtgx 9y ago

How is their progress on EVs? That's what I'm more interested in. Before I'd be interested in their self-driving solutions I'd also want to know they're not cutting corners and cheating their way out of strong security architectures for their cars.

Cozumel 9y ago

I'm sorry Dave, I can't tell you the emission levels!

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]