Electric automaker Xpeng took the wraps off the G9 SUV this week at the international Auto Guangzhou show in China (earlier post). The intelligent, software-defined vehicle is built on the high-performance compute of NVIDIA DRIVE Orin and delivers AI capabilities that are continuously upgraded with each over-the-air update.

The new flagship SUV, which was designed for the international market as well as China, debuts Xpeng’s X-EEA 3.0 centralized electronic and electrical architecture and Xpilot 4.0 advanced driver assistance system for a seamless driving experience. The G9 is also compatible with the next-generation “X-Power” superchargers for charging up to 124 miles in 5 minutes.

The SUV is the first to be equipped with Xpilot 4.0, an AI-assisted driving system capable of address-to-address automated driving, including valet parking.

Xpilot 4.0 is built on two NVIDIA DRIVE Orin systems-on-a-chip (SoC), achieving 508 trillion operations per second (TOPS). It uses an 8-million-pixel front-view camera and 2.9-million-pixel side-view cameras that cover front, rear, left and right views, as well as a highly integrated and expandable domain controller.

This technology is incorporated into a centralized compute architecture for a streamlined design, powerful performance and seamless upgrades.

Xpeng is one of a growing number of automakers using NVIDIA DRIVE Orin for their next-generation software-defined vehicles. At NVIDIA GTC earlier in November, performance automaker Lotus, autonomous driving solutions provider QCraft and EV startups Human Horizons and WM Motor announced they were using the NVIDIA platform. These companies join global automakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Volvo Cars, and other EV startups such as NIO.

The open DRIVE Hyperion 8 platform allows each customer to individualize NVIDIA DRIVE Orin to their needs, leveraging end-to-end solutions to accelerate autonomous driving development.

• Lotus is using DRIVE Orin to develop intelligent driving technology designed for the track. With the centralized compute of DRIVE Orin and redundant and diverse DNNs, Lotus vehicles can continuously improve to reach peak driving performance for the next generation of racing.

• Baidu is integrating DRIVE Orin within its third-generation autonomous driving platform Apollo Computing Unit, known as Sanxian. The integration of DRIVE Orin within Baidu’s Sanxian platform will help improve driving performance and safety—along with accelerate mass production of autonomous driving systems and improve the overall user experience.

• EV maker Human Horizons is developing its next-generation advanced driver assistance system on DRIVE Orin, using the high-performance AI compute to deliver innovation and comfort to its vehicles. The system will debut on the all-new flagship Digital-GT, the HiPhi Z.

• WM Motor announced its flagship M7 electric smart car will feature four NVIDIA Orin SoCs, delivering 1,016 TOPS of compute performance.

• In the mass transit space, China-based startup QCraft will adopt NVIDIA DRIVE Orin for its next-generation hardware solution for Driven-by-QCraft self-driving platform. The intelligent system spans commercial transportation offerings from robobuses to robotaxis, expected to start in 2023.

• Kodiak Robotics’ fourth-generation vehicle uses lightweight mapping and discreet, modular hardware to achieve level 4 self-driving capabilities. This lightweight mapping strategy uses the computing performance of DRIVE Orin to detect road objects, signs and more.

• Autonomous trucking company Plus has also announced plans to transition to DRIVE Orin, beginning next year. Its self-driving system, known as PlusDrive, can be retrofitted to existing trucks or added by manufacturers as an upfit option on new vehicles.