We’ve all used Nvidia products at some point in our lives and will continue to do so. We’ve all dreamed of owning a Mercedes Benz. Now, these 2 Industry giants are teaming up to take on the likes of Tesla, Waymo, and Yandex on the future of the transport industry. But what does a company that facilitates gaming have anything to do with your dream car?
Any PC with some semblance of real-world functionality, like photo and video editing, software development or even playing a video at a higher resolution (Netflix @ 4k) requires a good graphics card.
Real-Time Ray-tracing or RTX is a brand-new innovative technology that Nvidia released 2 years ago, it mimics real-world lighting effects in the graphically rendered environment, basically shadows and reflections. This was previously done manually and was never truly realistic. Nvidia achieved this by combining many AI-driven tools most notably Deep Learning Super Sampling or DLSS. They have been very successful in their first AI venture and now they are going to be designing self-driving mechanisms that will transform the way we travel.
Using self-driving hardware in cars comes with many challenges, not the least being upgradeability. When you automate a car with this hardware it will need constant upgrades both digital and physical to keep up with safety standards and evolving technology. Mercedes and Nvidia plan to make this system infinitely upgradeable with Nvidia’s previous experience with long term upgradeability. A side benefit of this will be the low depreciation of existing cars as they can be easily upgraded.
Automating cars also come with many moral dilemmas about how it will kill jobs and the handling of crashes. Regarding crashes, when all cars on the road drive themselves crashes will only reduce as machines are far less prone to errors than humans, but before that the tech needs to know how to react in an ongoing crash, it is problem with no real answer but minimizing casualties is always the best option and that is the way the wind is blowing now.
When the IC engine was first discovered there was a massive revolution, horse breeders lost almost everything but the end result is cars, everyone owns one and everyone needs one. Self-Driving Cars are the natural conclusion to the revolution and many people will lose their jobs for it, but the end result will definitely be worth it.
20 years from now driving your own car will have the same novelty as riding a horse and for one cannot wait for that day.
