Uber Partners With Nvidia To Scale Autonomous Driving Globally, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Calls Chipmaker 'Backbone Of The AI Era'

Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has hailed Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) following the announcement of an autonomous driving partnership between the two companies.

Nvidia Is The ‘Backbone' Of The AI Era

Taking to the social media platform X on Tuesday, Khosrowshahi hailed the GPU maker as a crucial element to global AI infrastructure. "Proud to partner with @NVIDIA, the backbone of the AI era, to scale L4 autonomy on @Uber around the world," Khosrowshahi said in the post.

This comes as Nvidia announced that Uber will be using its new compute and sensor architecture, which could make any vehicle capable of Level 4 autonomous driving. Nvidia said that the company "can support Uber in scaling its global autonomous fleet to 100,000 vehicles over time, starting in 2027" via its DRIVE AGX Hyperion 10 platform and DRIVE software.

Nvidia's Other Autonomous Partnerships

Besides Uber, Nvidia announced that automakers like Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA), Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID) and Mercedes-Benz Group AG (OTC:MBGYY) (OTC:MBGAF) were collaborating with Nvidia to develop autonomous vehicles targeting personal ownership, as well as Robotaxis, using the company's aforementioned AV stack.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang hailed the partnerships. "We're creating a framework for the entire industry to deploy autonomous fleets at scale," Huang said, adding that autonomous driving, which was "once science fiction," was becoming "an everyday reality."

Besides Uber, Nvidia announced that automakers like Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA), Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID) and Mercedes-Benz Group AG (OTC:MBGYY) (OTC:MBGAF) were collaborating with Nvidia to develop autonomous vehicles targeting personal ownership, as well as Robotaxis, using the company's aforementioned AV stack.

Lucid has also announced that it plans to offer Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities in its upcoming midsize vehicles using Nvidia tech. The company intends to deliver one of the world’s first consumer-owned Level 4 passenger vehicles.

Nvidia was also in talks with UK-based autonomous driving startup Wayve last month over a potential $500 million investment into the AV company. Wayve is also backed by Japan's SoftBank (OTC:SFTBY) in Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (OTC:NSANY).

Uber's Pony AI Investment, Jensen Huang Warns Against Isolating China

Meanwhile, Uber plans to invest over $100 million into the Hong Kong-listed shares of self-driving company Pony AI Inc. (NASDAQ:PONY). Pony is reportedly looking to raise over $972 million in its Hong Kong listing. Uber could also invest in the Hong Kong listing of WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD).

Huang, on the other hand, warned against isolating the Chinese developer ecosystem in the AI race at a company event in Washington. "A policy that causes America to lose half of the world's AI developers is not beneficial long term, it hurts us more," Huang said.

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