This was news to many given that Uber was an Nvidia Partner and Nvidia pulled its self-driving car tests in the wake of the crash.
However, Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang said that while Uber does use his GPUs, it does not use the self-driving platform architecture.
“Uber does not use Nvidia DRIVE technology. Uber develops its sensing and drives technology”, Huang said.
Nvidia’s shares had fallen by about 9.5 percent since the company said on Tuesday it was temporarily halting its self-driving tests on public roads out of respect for the victim in the March 18 accident involving an Uber self-driving vehicle.
The Nvidia DRIVE platform is used by over 370 companies developing self-driving technology, including automakers and robotaxi companies and makers of self-driving hardware, such as sensors.
However, Huang’s comments provide more detail as to the relationship between Nvidia and Uber, one of its many partners.
The chipmaker is continuing tests on closed enclosures, the chief executive said. Although he did not explain why this was necessary, if Uber only used its chips then surely DRIVE is entirely safe.