Autonomous vehicles won’t be ready for widespread deployment until “well into the next decade,” according to NVIDIA Corp. NVDA automotive chief Ali Kani, even as major tech companies accelerate their investments in self-driving technology.
What Happened: The cautionary outlook from one of the industry’s leading chip suppliers comes as Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk projects its Full Self-Driving system will surpass human capabilities by mid-2024.
“We’re not close. It’s super-hard,” Kani told Autocar. “If one firm makes one mistake, the whole industry gets pushed back a few years.”
Nvidia, which supplies computing systems to automakers including Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, is expanding its automotive presence through new partnerships. The company recently announced a collaboration with Uber Technologies Inc. UBER to develop AI-powered autonomous solutions using its Cosmos and DGX Cloud platforms.
The technological hurdles remain significant. Current autonomous systems exhibit “herky-jerky behavior and ghost braking,” Kani said, requiring advances in computing power, sensors, and AI models to achieve natural driving capabilities.
Why It Matters: Recent setbacks highlight these challenges. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened investigations into Tesla’s FSD system following multiple crashes, including a fatal pedestrian accident. Truist analyst William Stein noted “obvious imperfections” in Tesla’s latest FSD version after test drives, maintaining a Hold rating on the stock.
Meanwhile, Alphabet Inc.‘s GOOGL GOOG Waymo unit is expanding globally, announcing plans to launch in Tokyo by early 2025. The company’s safety record has drawn positive attention from insurers, distinguishing it from competitors like General Motors‘ Cruise, which recently scaled back operations.
Industry experts estimate autonomous vehicles could become a multi-trillion-dollar market. However, Kani emphasized the need for cautious development: “The industry needs to go slowly with this…You can only do it when you have proven that it is really safe.”
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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