Volvo to use Blackwell GPU in software-defined cars
Volvo Cars launched its first software defined vehicle this week using the Orin processor from Nvidia and plans to use the Blackwell GPU architecture.
Volvo Cars is using Orin for its EX90 electric vehicle with DriveOS software and a common software stack with a plan to upgrade to the Thor chip based on the Nvidia Blackwell GPU architecture.
Volvo Cars subsidiary Zenseact is also using the Nvidia DGX datacentre based on the Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPU for AI model training in Europe. With the NVLink Switch System, up to 256 H100 GPUs can be connected to accelerate exascale workloads. The GPU also includes a dedicated Transformer Engine to solve trillion-parameter language models.
The EX90 is the first vehicle to use the common core of systems, modules, software and hardware, called the Volvo Cars Superset tech stack. This is a single hardware and software base with over the air (OTA) update capability that contains all modules and functionalities that Volvo will use in future product line-up. The modular platform can be configured in many different ways to create a selection, or subset from different models.
“The Volvo Cars Superset tech stack is a true game changer: it allows all of our engineering effort to be channeled into one single direction that powers all our products, instead of working on specific car projects,” says Anders Bell, Chief Engineering & Technology Officer at Volvo Cars. “Our engineers will work on one superset, constantly improving, growing and expanding its capabilities and features. This allows for dramatically improved quality, increased speed-to-market and continually better cars for our customers.”
Volvo XC90 Interiors
Managing the massive amount of data needed to safely train the next generation of AI-enabled vehicles demands data-centre-levels of compute and infrastructure.
The Zenseact AI training hub is based in the Nordics and will use the systems for ADAS and autonomous driving software development. The cluster of DGX systems will also enable processing of the required data for safety assurance, delivering twice the performance and potentially halving time to market.
“The DGX AI supercomputer will supercharge our AI training capabilities, making this in-house AI training centre one of the largest in the Nordics,” said Bell.
Details of Thor are limited, but it is expected to use the high end ARM Neoverse V3 AE cores previously codenamed Poseiden alongside a variant of the Blackwell GPU core in a single chip qualified for automotive applications. This will provide four times the 250TOPS provides by Orin for more advanced driving assistance and safety features and autonomous driving. This will also be used to add generative AI capabilities and in-car experiences.
“With Drive Thor in our future cars, our in-house developed software becomes more scalable across our product line-up, which will help us to continue to improve the safety in our cars, deliver best-in-class customer experiences, reduce our costs, and increase our margins,” says Jim Rowan, CEO of Volvo Cars.
“By setting up the data centre, we pave a quick path to high-performing AI, ultimately helping make our products safer and better,” said Bell.
The work on the EX90 will directly benefit the ES90, and that the work done for ES90 will carry on both into the development of EX60 coming after it, as well as improving the EX90 already in the hands of customers.
This shift to closed-loop development is at least as significant as the shift to electrification says Bell as it impacts anything connected to the electrical system.
One of the key building blocks is the electric technology base called SPA3 which is a combination of the latest propulsion, electric and electronic systems on top of which the car is built. The first car to be built on SPA3 will be the forthcoming all-electric EX60 midsize SUV.
SPA3 builds on many of the building blocks of SPA2 used for the EX90 and introduces several key upgrades. It will, for example, have an enhanced core computing capability, which will allow us to secure higher performance and improve features through our tech stack. But the most important change is that the SPA3 architecture has been built to be far more scalable than its predecessor.
This will support vehicles larger than the EX90 and smaller than the EX30 using the same technology base with improved efficiency when it comes to core computing, batteries, e-motors, megacasting and modular manufacturing – all factors that contribute to significantly driving down the costs of producing cars.
The Volvo Cars plant in Torslanda outside Gothenberg is preparing for production of SPA3 cars.
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