Generative AI, in the data center and in the car, is making vehicle experiences safer and more enjoyable.

The latest advancements in automotive technology were on display last week at NVIDIA GTC, a global AI conference that drew tens of thousands of business leaders, developers and researchers from around the world.

The event kicked off with NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote, which included the announcement of the NVIDIA Blackwell platform — purpose-built to power a new era of AI computing.

The NVIDIA Blackwell GPU architecture will be integrated into the NVIDIA DRIVE Thor centralized car computer to enable generative AI applications and immersive in-vehicle experiences. Large language models will be able to run in the car, enabling an intelligent copilot that understands and speaks in natural language.

BYD, the world’s largest electric-vehicle maker, announced it will adopt DRIVE Thor as the AI brain of its future fleets. In addition, the company will use NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure for cloud-based AI development and training, and the NVIDIA Isaac and NVIDIA Omniverse platforms to develop tools and applications for virtual factory planning and retail configurators. Hyper, Nuro, Plus, Waabi, WeRide and XPENG are also adopting DRIVE Thor.

Learn more about the automotive ecosystem’s announcements at GTC:

Some of the latest NVIDIA-powered vehicles displayed on the exhibition floor included:

• Aurora self-driving truck, already on the highways of Texas
• Lucid Air long-range electric sedan
• Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA Class, showcasing what’s to come
• Nuro R3, a fully autonomous robotic delivery model
• Polestar 3, the SUV for the electric age
• Volvo Cars EX90, its new fully electric, flagship SUV
• And WeRide’s Robobus, a new form of urban mobility.

The NVIDIA auto booth highlighted the wide adoption of the NVIDIA DRIVE platform, with displays featuring electronic control units from a variety of partners, including Bosch, Lenovo and ZEEKR.

A wide range of NVIDIA automotive partners, including Ansys, Foretellix, Lenovo, MediaTek, NODAR, OMNIVISION, Plus, Seyond, SoundHound, Voxel51 and Waabi, all made next-generation product announcements at GTC.

In addition, the automotive pavilion buzzed with interest in the latest lidar advancements from Luminar and Robosense, as well as Helm.ai’s software offerings for the level 2 to level 4 autonomous driving stack.

And other partners, such as Ford, Geely, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover and Zoox, participated in dozens of sessions and panels covering topics such as building data center applications and developing safe autonomous vehicles. Watch the sessions on demand.