Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Around the Valley in 80 Kilometers: NVIDIA Autonomous Test Vehicle Completes Fully Driverless Highway Loop

10/10/2018

The number of white knuckles on Silicon Valley highways may be on its way down.

This month, an NVIDIA autonomous test vehicle, nicknamed BB8, completed an 80-kilometer (approximately 50-mile) route near company headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., without the safety driver ever taking control.

Running on the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Pegasus AI supercomputer, the car handled highway on- and off-ramps and numerous lane changes entirely on its own, marking a significant step toward a self-driving future.

With industry-leading compute performance, a single DRIVE AGX Pegasus platform ran both NVIDIA DRIVE AV software, which handles autonomous driving functions like object detection and 360-degree surround perception, and the DRIVE IX intelligent experience software stack, which processes voice commands and monitors the driver to ensure they are paying attention.

This revolutionary drive was no science experiment - it was completed using entirely shippable parts. The sensors, embedded DRIVE AGX Pegasus platform and software are all available to autonomous vehicle developers.

This is not a demo, this is something you can get right now, said NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang at GTC Europe Wednesday.

An NVIDIA autonomous test vehicle completed an 80-kilometer route without any human intervention. NVIDIA always conducts public road tests with two trained drivers in the vehicle. One supervises the environment from the driver's seat and another in the passenger seat observes both the driver and the environment. In addition, this test drive deployed Drive IX, which uses infrared camera to monitor where the driver is looking at all times as well as attentiveness and fatigue.

Two Software Stacks, One Platform In the past decade of development, self-driving test vehicles have relied on bulky PCs and servers wired up in the trunk to run the various deep learning and path planning algorithms for autonomous driving. However, to deploy production-level self-driving cars, autonomous driving hardware must have a significantly smaller footprint and consume much less energy.

At the size of a laptop computer, DRIVE AGX Pegasus is an incredibly energy-efficient hardware solution, capable of 320 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of performance. The supercomputer is able to run multiple deep neural networks at once for autonomous driving, including those for DRIVE AV and DRIVE IX.

This parallel processing capability means the vehicle is able to run deep neural networks for perception - like those found in DRIVE AV - while also running the algorithms for natural language processing to enable voice commands in DRIVE IX.

So, passengers may ask, What's the weather in San Francisco? as their car operates in autonomous mode, with the same computer running both tasks simultaneously.

Way Beyond Cruise Control With congested highways, frequent entrances and exits, and various construction sites, San Francisco Bay Area traffic is no Sunday drive. However, with a robust hardware and software suite, the NVIDIA BB8 vehicle handled infamous California traffic with ease.

By using deep neural networks to identify lanes, other vehicles and driveable space, the autonomous test car slowed when cars entered from the on-ramp into its lane, speeding back up to the pace of traffic once the car was at a safe distance.

BB8 also seamlessly executed lane changes, safely moving between lanes once it detected ample space.

The ability to navigate these complex and unpredictable traffic scenarios without intervention from a human driver is a major milestone in the journey to full autonomy, where roads will be safer, more efficient and open.
LINK: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2018/10/10/self-driving-highway-loop/...
See more stories from nvidia

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

19/06/2026

Bitfocus Buttons wins another top industry award

Buttons is best control system in the rAVe Best of Infocomm Awards 2026...

19/06/2026

Mavis Studio Makes iPad Production More Powerful

Mavis Studio Makes iPad Production More Powerful Brie Clayton June 19, 2026 0 Comments InfoComm update brings new NDI Preview, PTZ control, USB audio ...

19/06/2026

Immersive Studio Metaverse Stage Tackles Post with Blackmagic Design

Immersive Studio Metaverse Stage Tackles Post with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 19, 2026 0 Comments New narrative projects rely on DaVinci Reso...

19/06/2026

How to Run the Original 1993 After Effects

How to Run the Original 1993 After Effects Graham Quince June 19, 2026 0 Comments How to the original After Effects v1 in an emulator, and you don'...

19/06/2026

IBC Show to Increase Focus on Networking, Startups

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

19/06/2026

Irdeto Taps Axel Gallant as CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

19/06/2026

SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible - Opening St...

SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists and engineers, has announced that its entire Standards catalog is now freely available to the global medi...

19/06/2026

nsign and BrightSign partner to expand deployment options...

nsign, the digital signage SaaS platform built around its core principle of Simplify Complexity, has announced a partnership with BrightSign , expanding the dep...

19/06/2026

Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay...

Visual Productions announces the availability of its new RdmRelay2 at InfoComm 2026 (ACT Entertainment, Booth N6813). A networked, four-channel DMX relay, it is...

19/06/2026

Adobe Unveils Major Expansion of Creative Agent Across Firefly and Creative Cloud Apps Including Photoshop and Premiere

Adobe Unveils Major Expansion of Creative Agent Across Firefly and Creative Clou...

19/06/2026

Immersive Studio Metaverse Stage Innovates Storytelling with URSA Cine Immersive

Immersive Studio Metaverse Stage Innovates Storytelling with URSA Cine Immersive Brie Clayton June 18, 2026 0 Comments Two new narrative short films c...

19/06/2026

June 18, 2026

Lab studies explain how new cancer drug works as it enters patient testing Immunologists at Scripps Research show how a new, experimental drug revives immune ce...

18/06/2026

Ratings Roundup: Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals Is Most Watched Since Jordan Bulls Era; FIFA World Cup Opens Big

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

18/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: PTZOptics Debuts Healthcare Visual Reasoning Integration with LayerJot

PTZOptics has unveiled new Visual Reasoning demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 (Boo...

18/06/2026

IBC 2026: Announces New Future Tech Ignite Initiative, Expanded Exhibitor Participation

IBC2026 will take place at the RAI Amsterdam from September 11-14, bringing toge...

18/06/2026

InfoComm 2026 Holds Inaugural Media Day with Product Announcements from 19 Exhibitors

InfoComm 2026 held its first-ever Media Day on June 17, providing journalists an...

18/06/2026

Info Comm 2026: FOR-A America Announces TAA-Compliant LED Display Package

FOR-A America has announced a Trade Agreements Act (TAA)-compliant LED display solution combining Alfalite's Litepix LED displays and Brompton Technology...

18/06/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 20: Cleveland Browns Kyle Millen - Run of Shows & Rock n Roll

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level have one major thing in common: the intensity and attention to detail ramps up dur...

18/06/2026

International Federation of American Football, TMRW Sports Partner on Global Growth of Flag Football

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and TMRW Sports have an...

18/06/2026

AJA Debuts Io Xpand Thunderbolt 5 Expansion Chassis for KONA and Corvid PCIe I/O Cards

AJA Video Systems has unveiled Io Xpand, a Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion ...

18/06/2026

ESPN Marks 30th Anniversary of WNBA's Inaugural Game With Liberty-Sparks Broadcast

ESPN has announced its coverage plans for the 30th anniversary of the WNBA's...

18/06/2026

FOX Sports' Big Noon Kickoff Heads to London for Union Jack Classic From Wembley Stadium

FOX Sports' Big Noon Kickoff will broadcast live from Wembley Stadium in Lon...

18/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Show Opens With Microsoft Keynote, Media Day, and New Industry Initiatives

InfoComm 2026 opened on Wednesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, bringing t...

18/06/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Akta's Matt Smith on Building AI Into the Foundation of the Video Workflow

As media companies look to deliver more live, VOD, and snackable sports content ...

18/06/2026

2026 Sundance Film Festival: Local Lens

Top L-R: Take Me Home, The Lake Bottom L-R: TheyDream, Union County Free Summer Screening Series Announced Screenings for the Local Utah Community at...

18/06/2026

iamReverb gets an update

Improvements & new IR content iamReverb Audio have just launched a free update that kits their convolution reverb plug-in out with some new features and int...

18/06/2026

Two notes unveil Genome 2.0

Modelling suite gains improved captures, iOS support & more Two notes Audio Engineering have just announced the launch of Genome 2.0, a significant update t...

18/06/2026

VSL update Vienna Ensemble Pro 8

New AI assistance feature, video overhaul & more VSL have just announced the launch of Vienna Ensemble Pro 8.1 and 8.1V, a pair of major updates to their ev...

18/06/2026

The Gauge: Poland | May 2026

The average daily TV screen time in May was 3 hours and 36 minutes, marking a clear decrease of 15 minutes compared to April. This trend proved to be much stron...

18/06/2026

Gracenote and PubMatic Bring Curated Live Sports and Content-Level Deals to Programmatic CTV

Integration embeds Gracenote content intelligence, including contextual segments...

18/06/2026

AJA Debuts Io Xpand Thunderbolt 5 Expansion Chassis for...

AJA Video Systems unveiled Io Xpand, a high-performance Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion chassis for AJA KONA and Corvid video and audio I/O cards. As dema...

18/06/2026

Providius Announces Providius Direct for Faster AV-over-I...

New NVRT-driven workflow enables on-demand traffic mirroring and guided troubleshooting for AV teams, integrators, and support organizations ahead of InfoComm 2...

18/06/2026

Mavis Studio Brings New Muscle to Mobile Production on iP...

At InfoComm 2026, Mavis announced a major update to Mavis Studio, its live production app for the iPad, with new features designed to make professional AV produ...

18/06/2026

Harmonic Completes Divestiture of Video Business to Media...

Transaction Positions Harmonic as a Pure-Play Broadband Company Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtualized broadband solutions, today a...

18/06/2026

ACT Entertainment and NETGEAR Partner to Power the Futur...

ACT Entertainment and NETGEAR have announced a strategic partnership that establishes verified interoperability between NETGEAR Switches and key technologies fr...

18/06/2026

IBC2026 creates new pathways from innovation to real-worl...

IBC2026 is set to bring the global media, entertainment and technology community together at the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September, enabling industry players f...

18/06/2026

PLIANT TECHNOLOGIES DEBUTS CREWCOM FLEX THE WORLDS FIRST...

Pliant Technologies is proud to introduce CrewCom Flex , the world's first frameless matrix intercom system and the only complete matrix IP-based intercom s...

18/06/2026

XR Sports Alliance Strengthens its Capabilities with New...

The XR Sports Alliance (XRSA) has announced that a new cohort of members has joined the strategic initiative: ActionStreamer, Antigravity, Creative Artists Agen...

18/06/2026

Hollywood Filmmakers Launch AI Production Platform Cascade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

ATVA Blasts Deltavision Media for Demanding 'Egregious' Retrans Fees

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

MediaKind Completes Merger with Harmonic's Video Business

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

AJA Unveils Io Xpand Thunderbolt 5 Expansion Chassis At InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship

Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship The Berklee professor, bassist, and composer will use the fellowship to debut Dreams of Knowing, an interdisci...

18/06/2026

How FERC's Large-Load Interconnection Actions Help Address Grid Stress, Improve Affordability

In a consequential grid infrastructure decision, the Federal Energy Regulatory C...

18/06/2026

Techtel delivers Haivision live streaming system for TAFE NSW St Leonards, enabling real-world broadcast training

Techtel delivers Haivision live streaming system for TAFE NSW St Leonards, enabl...

18/06/2026

The Great Roaming Rinse

New study reveals 10 hidden data drainers costing Brits hundreds abroad - and the holiday hotspots where you could get rinsed the mostThursday 18 June 2026 The...