At the just past GTC 2022 Spring Conference, NVIDIA once again "amplified the move" in the field of intelligent driving.
Nvidia announced that the highly anticipated Orin chip is about to be officially mass-produced this month, with the next-generation chip Atlan delivered in 2025 and the next-generation Hyperion 9 intelligent driving platform delivered in 2026.
At GTC 2022, the most exciting thing for Chinese audiences is the expansion of NVIDIA's intelligent driving ecosystem. NVIDIA announced that Lucid Group, a new car-making force in the United States, and BYD, the "first brother" of China's new energy, will join NVIDIA's intelligent driving ecosystem.
"Today, we are pleased to announce that BYD, the world's second-largest electric vehicle manufacturer, will begin production of cars equipped with the DRIVE Orin computing platform in the first half of 2023." NVIDIA founder Jen-Hsun Huang said.
Whether it is for NVIDIA or BYD, this cooperation is quite imaginative. Perhaps, soon, we will see the wonderful sparks of the collision between the two.
A powerful combination
In what form does the cooperation between NVIDIA and BYD unfold?
According to Huang Jenxun's speech and follow-up press release, it is certain that the cooperation between NVIDIA and BYD will focus on three aspects: chips, AI technology and DRIVE intelligent driving platform - from the first half of 2023, BYD will be equipped with NVIDIA's DRIVE Orin chip and DRIVE Hyperion platform on some of its new energy vehicles to achieve intelligent vehicle driving and intelligent parking.
Needless to say, this is a real combination of strength and power. NVIDIA has become the most leading Tier 1 supplier in the field of intelligent driving, and BYD, as the first new energy manufacturer in China and the second in the world, will provide a vehicle platform for cooperation between the two sides and accelerate its own intelligent driving layout.
First look at Nvidia. Today, NVIDIA's Orin chip has become recognized as the "top-mate" intelligent driving hardware, with 17 billion transistors and a single hash rate of up to 254TOPS. With strong computing power, Orin chips have become the common choice of many car companies. At present, many models, including WEIO ET7, Ideal L9, and WM M7, have confirmed that they will be equipped with this chip.
At GTC 2022, Nvidia announced that orin chips will not skip tickets and will be put into production and sale this month. In addition, NVIDIA has also released drive Hyperion 9, an intelligent driving platform based on the next-generation intelligent driving chip Atlan, which has L3 autonomous driving capabilities and L4 automatic parking capabilities, and plans to mass-produce in 2026.
With its huge potential in the intelligent driving market, NVIDIA's stock price has repeatedly reached new highs. At present, NVIDIA's dynamic price-to-earnings ratio is as high as 73.12, which is not only far more than chip manufacturers such as Intel (PE: 10.62), but also surpasses a number of technology companies, such as Apple (PE: 28.82), Microsoft (PE: 32.38) and Google's parent company Alphabet (PE: 25.18).
And BYD's strength can not be underestimated. In the past 2021, BYD's annual sales of passenger cars 730093 million units, an increase of 75.4% year-on-year; of which, the sales of new energy vehicles 593745 units, an increase of 231.6% year-on-year. Whether it is calculated by sales volume or by stock market value, BYD has firmly sat on the first new energy vehicle company in China and the second largest in the world.
Why do NVIDIA and BYD choose each other?
Standing in the current year of 2022, why did NVIDIA and BYD choose each other?
For Nvidia, BYD has helped it expand into an extremely important market. Before working with BYD, NVIDIA's partners could be divided into three main categories:
The first type is the intelligent driving enterprises represented by Didi and Xiaoma Zhixing, most of which do not directly build cars;
The second category is mercedes-Benz, Audi, Jaguar Land Rover and other traditional car companies, the vast majority of which are high-end luxury brands;
The third category is the new car-making force represented by Wei Xiaoli, which has developed rapidly but has limited sales.
The addition of BYD has brought new enhancements to NVIDIA's "circle of friends of car companies". Like new energy vehicles, intelligent driving systems are inseparable from the drive of electricity. Therefore, compared with the traditional luxury brands that still stay in the fuel era, BYD, which focuses on new energy tracks, can provide a more solid "technical base" for intelligent driving.
Compared with the new car-making forces in the new energy track, BYD's sales volume has a scale advantage. In the Chinese market, BYD's monthly sales of new energy vehicles exceed the sum of all new power brands. Through BYD, NVIDIA's intelligent driving products can be landed more quickly. After parting ways with Tesla, Nvidia urgently needs a new energy partner that can "go", and BYD has naturally become the optimal solution.
For BYD, NVIDIA is also a more worthy intelligent driving cooperation object. In the field of intelligent driving, NVIDIA is no longer just a chip manufacturer, but has become a full-stack service provider covering chips, algorithms, intelligent driving platforms, development kits, and high-precision maps. In the field of intelligent driving, NVIDIA has become a Tier 1 supplier.
This is also one of the important reasons why many car companies choose NVIDIA. Unlike smart driving suppliers such as Mobileye, NVIDIA offers smart driving solutions that are more open. For example, for car companies, Mobileye's solution is like a black box, and it is difficult for car companies to develop secondary on this basis. However, NVIDIA's intelligent driving solution has chosen the mode of software and hardware decoupling, and car companies can carry out secondary development and customization according to their own needs.
NVIDIA also provides a wealth of development kits for car companies. For example, at GTC 2022, NVIDIA showcased the application of its meta-universe platform Omniverse in the field of smart driving. Third-party developers such as car companies can simulate a real world on this platform to train their own intelligent driving algorithms in the metaverse.
Strong computing power, complete solutions, rich tool chain and open ecology have made NVIDIA favored by car companies. The combination of Nvidia and BYD is not surprising.
To create a circle of intelligent driving friends, can BYD accumulate thick and thin hair?
In fact, in the field of intelligent driving, BYD has always been a controversial brand. BYD's products on sale have always been very cautious about driver assistance and autonomous driving.
In the eyes of supporters, BYD's conservative attitude toward intelligent driving is a manifestation of its responsibility to consumers; while in the eyes of critics, BYD's lack of intelligent driving means that BYD may have fallen behind in this field.
The cooperation between BYD and NVIDIA has obviously brought more confidence to BYD's fans and investors, and has also given the outside world more awareness of BYD's intelligent driving technology route.
As a representative of the whole industry chain model, BYD has always insisted on firmly grasping the core technology and supply chain in its own hands. Whether it is an engine, a gearbox or a battery, motor, or electronic control, BYD has always insisted on independent research and development. So much so that there are rumors that "parts on the car, in addition to glass and tires, BYD can produce itself." ”
However, in the era of intelligent driving, in order to create a truly autonomous car, it is inseparable from the close coupling of various links from chips, sensors to AI algorithms, and the diversity of technologies required is far greater than before. The traditional OEMs can cover limited technology at this stage, and may never be able to achieve the real sense of the whole industry chain layout.
For example, HIGH-definition maps can significantly improve the user experience of intelligent driving. However, a car company relies on its own strength to achieve high-precision mapping of global roads, whether in terms of technology, operating costs or laws and regulations, there may be unbridgeable challenges.
However, car companies still hope to achieve as much industrial chain coverage as possible in the era of intelligent driving. The commercial success of NVIDIA and Mobileye today has proved this fact. Compared with NVIDIA, Mobileye can allow car companies to quickly achieve L2-level intelligent driving products, and was once favored by new domestic car-making forces. However, Mobileye's "black box" product delivery form makes it difficult for car companies to develop it in the future, neither can they customize and upgrade the localized road conditions, nor can they accumulate their own technical achievements in the field of intelligent driving.
Perhaps, this is also the reason why BYD has maintained a conservative strategy in the field of intelligent driving in the past. In fact, BYD has already begun to continue to focus on the field of intelligent driving. According to a number of recruitment websites, BYD has begun to recruit a large number of technical talents related to autonomous driving, covering multiple fields such as identification algorithms and domain controllers.
At the same time, BYD has also continued to cooperate with intelligent driving companies in the past two years. For example, in February 2021, BYD participated in a Series C3 financing round for smart driving chip and solution provider Horizon, and has since established a strategic partnership with Horizon. In November 2021, BYD signed an agreement with Momenta to jointly establish an autonomous driving company.
BYD clearly understands the importance of intelligent driving for the automotive industry. As early as 2018, BYD founder Wang Chuanfu pointed out: "In the transformation of the automobile industry, electrification is the first half, and intelligence is the second half. "BYD has no reason to ignore the second half of the battle.
Today, BYD has begun to prepare food and ammunition. According to the financial report data, in 2020, BYD's R&D investment reached 8.556 billion yuan, ranking second after SAIC Motor among Chinese car companies. However, in terms of R&D revenue ratio, BYD's figure (5.5%) is higher than SAIC's (2.1%).
As Wang Chuanfu said, BYD has always adhered to the "technology fish pond" strategy: "There are various technologies in the 'fish pond', and when the market needs it, we will fish one out." "Perhaps, BYD's intelligent driving fish has been cultivated, just waiting to be fished out.
In fact, at GTC 2022, Huang Jenxun has revealed the landing time of BYD's intelligent driving strategy - in the first half of 2023, BYD cars equipped with NVIDIA's DRIVE Orin computing platform will be put into production. Perhaps, as long as we wait another year, we will usher in BYD's "harvest moment" in the field of intelligent driving. (Fast Technology)