Nvidia Corp and Foxconn Partner to Develop Autonomous Vehicles

JAKARTA – Chip maker Nvidia Corp and electronics manufacturer Foxconn announced a partnership on Tuesday, January 3  to develop an autonomous vehicle platform.

Taiwan-based Foxconn said it will manufacture electronic control units (ECUs) for cars based on Nvidia's DRIVE Orin chip made specifically for computing in connected and autonomous vehicles. "ECU will serve the global automotive market," Foxconn said, as quoted by Reuters.

Companies developing electric and autonomous cars have struggled to bring products to market in recent years as they grapple with rising costs and difficulties in increasing production.

Nvidia says its technology, which includes chips to process information from sensors in real time, will help Foxconn address some of those challenges.

It sees a USD 300 billion (IDR 4.661 trillion) market opportunity in the automotive sector and reported revenue of USD 251 million (IDR 3.9 trillion) in the third quarter of the segment.

The chipmaker said the cooperation would allow it to scale up efforts to meet the growing demand for chips built for autonomous and connected vehicles.

Foxconn, which operates a vehicle manufacturing facility in Ohio, said its vehicles will contain ECUs based on the DRIVE Orin and Nvidia's DRIVE Hyperion sensors for autonomous driving.

Taiwan-based Foxconn makes electric vehicles for Lordstown Motors Corp and has a contract to build Fisker Inc's second car model, the PEAR. It also manufactures Apple Inc. products.

Foxconn announced in October that it hopes to one day build cars for Tesla Inc as it wants to increase production of electric vehicles to diversify its business.