Nvidia Just Doubled Down on Self-Driving Cars With Mercedes. Jensen Huang Is Coming for the Self-Driving Market.

On Oct. 16, Nvidia (NVDA) and Mercedes-Benz (MBGYY) agreed to extend their partnership. The two companies will focus on developing next-generation automated driving systems. Nvidia provides Hyperion, the car’s computing and sensor platform, along with Alpamayo, AI reasoning software designed for city driving. The partnership has already produced a system: Mercedes’ first urban point-to-point assistance system for Western markets. Their longer-term goal is to support Level-4 applications, which allow cars to drive themselves under specific conditions.

The main risk is how long that transition takes, particularly because Level 4 is still in the future and automotive contributes little compared with Nvidia’s data center business. Still, I think NVDA’s combination of chips, software, and safety capabilities puts it in a strong position as vehicle automation expands.