U.S. graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp. has unveiled a smaller version of its Drive PX 2 computer that will allow automakers to power autonomous vehicles for auto cruise driving and HD mapping. Nvidia’s new Drive PX 2 was unveiled at the GPU Technology Conference in Beijing, on Monday, September 12.

The palm-sized Drive PX 2 computer, which consumes just 10 watts of power, will help the vehicle to navigate, understand what is happening around it and avoid any collisions. The Drive PX 2 analyzes data gathered from multiple cameras, lidar, radar, GPS and ultrasonic sensors in order to train the vehicle.

The new Drive PX 2 will be used in Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc.’s self-driving cloud-to-car system. Nvidia and Baidu announced a partnership at the end of last month, which allows the combination of Baidu’s cloud platform and deep learning tools and Nvidia’s autonomous vehicle self-driving computing platform.

“Baidu and Nvidia are leveraging our AI skills together to create a cloud-to-car system for self-driving,” said Liu Jun, vice president of Baidu. “The new, small form-factor Drive PX 2 will be used in Baidu’s HD map-based self-driving solution for car manufacturers.”

The latest Drive PX 2 is a smaller, less powerful version than the original Drive PX 2 that was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. The new Drive PX 2 has a Tegra chip, a six-core CPU and a Pascal-based GPU compared to the more powerful version launched at CES, which comes with two CPUs and two GPUs. Volvo Car Corp. will be the first automaker to ship Nvidia’s original Drive PX 2 in 100 upcoming autonomous test cars. Other car manufacturers are currently carrying out tests for the technology.

Nvidia’s biggest competitor is Intel, who teamed up with Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, better known as BMW, and Mobileye Technologies Ltd. in July. Intel aims to have a final version of its platform completed by 2021, and predicts that by 2030 there will be 120 million vehicles with some version of automatic driving capability.

Mobileye has also teamed up with high-tech auto parts provider, Delphi Automotive PLC, in August, to develop an autonomous car system for any vehicle. While last week, Volvo Car Group and automotive safety supplier, Autoliv QB, Inc. announced a joint venture to develop autonomous driving software.

The new single-processor Drive PX 2 will be available in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Image credit: BagoGames; Flickr | Image via Nvidia