CAMBRIDGE — At CES each year, innovative technologies emerge that aim to address some of the most significant challenges across various industries. What many may not realize is that a substantial portion of these groundbreaking solutions is built on the Arm compute platform, and the automotive sector is no exception. As generative AI continues to play a pivotal role in transforming the automotive industry, consumers are increasingly demanding advanced autonomous driving features and enhanced user experiences. In response, automakers require more streamlined, integrated systems that offer server-class performance to handle the complexities of AI—an area in which Arm, in collaboration with industry leaders like NVIDIA, is actively delivering solutions.

One of the key highlights at CES this year is the introduction of NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor™, a centralized compute platform designed to power next-generation consumer and commercial vehicles. Set for production later this year, NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor is built on the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture and is the first solution to incorporate Arm’s Neoverse V3AE, a specially engineered Neoverse CPU optimized for automotive applications. This collaboration combines NVIDIA’s AI expertise with Arm’s powerful compute platform, enabling automakers to meet the increasing demands of software-defined vehicles (SDVs).

NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor leverages the Arm Neoverse V3AE’s power, efficiency, and safety advantages to support generative AI applications crucial for automotive functions. These include automated driving, parking assistance, driver and passenger monitoring, and advanced cockpit features—all running on a centralized, secure platform. As AI algorithms evolve from convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to more advanced transformers and generative models, NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor simplifies computational stages, enabling faster response times and higher fidelity for various tasks. In level 3 or higher autonomous driving use cases, a single NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor unit can replace multiple cutting-edge devices found in today’s vehicles, offering significant performance improvements for automakers.

Launched in March 2024, Arm Neoverse V3AE marks a series of industry firsts, bringing Armv9-based technologies to the automotive market. This advancement allows the industry to leverage the AI, security, and virtualization capabilities of Arm’s latest architecture. These innovations, along with new virtual platforms from Arm’s ecosystem partners, are set to accelerate automotive development cycles by up to two years.

Arm’s longstanding reputation for power efficiency, high performance, and expertise in functional safety has made it the technology of choice for automakers and their supply chains. In fact, 94% of global automakers incorporate Arm technology into their latest vehicle models, with the top 15 automotive semiconductor suppliers worldwide relying on Arm’s technologies for their silicon solutions.

Through continued partnerships with companies like NVIDIA, Arm is helping to deliver unmatched performance, efficiency, and AI capabilities, making it easier for automakers to develop and deploy the next generation of cutting-edge software-defined vehicles.