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Automotive @ CES 2023

Automotive Industry At CES Looks Towards More Present Innovation. 

Bloomberg (1/3) reports that the automotive industry is seeing the “age of adventure” replaced by “the realm of reality” at CES 2023, as companies look to “spotlight technologies that are here and now,” showing innovations “they expect will provide a return on investment in the near-term, not in some hazy tomorrow that may never come.” The show will “still be packed with products,” with at least 274 auto and mobility exhibitors, but “practicality and profit will be the buzz words at a more sober CES.” CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said, “There’s no question there’s been a shift,” with the Biden administration focusing “more on electric vehicles than they have on autonomous.” Exhibitors are set to do the same, with highlights from GM, Rivian, Tesla, Volvo, and others. Guidehouse Insights principal analyst for e-mobility Sam Abuelsamid said, “People are realizing that the market for large-scale adoption of AVs is still quite a few years away because the technology is just not mature enough.”

AFP (1/4) reports that autonomous vehicles may “again fall short of long-held hopes,” because despite “steady advances,” autonomous driving technologies have still “yet to take over the open roads.” Many automakers are working on autonomous driving, but several have “scaled back their ambitions and focused on assistance tools.” AEye co-founder Jordan Green said that developing an autonomous vehicle is “a massive cost...without a quick path to profitability,” and that the biggest challenge to development is not technology, but “the business model.”

NVIDIA Announces Expansion Of GeForce Now Streaming Platform To More Vehicles. 

Engadget (1/3) reports NVIDIA said its GeForce Now streaming platform will be available in automobiles “using the company’s Drive platform.” NVIDIA “already has initial support from major brands like the Hyundai group (including Genesis and Kia), Polestar and China’s BYD.” The company “didn’t offer a timeframe for GeForce Now access, although it noted that BYD would offer Drive Hyperion-powered cars in the first half of 2023.”

TechCrunch reports, Nvidia's in-car games offering comes as automakers sink more resources into so-called ‘software-defined vehicles,’ in hopes of finding new sources of revenue beyond building, selling and financing cars, trucks and SUVs.” Even though “Tesla was the first to pioneer in-car gaming and recently added Steam games to its vehicles, other automakers have picked up the pace. A number of automakers, including Stellantis, announced at CES last year plans to add Amazon Fire TV streaming into upcoming vehicles.

VW Provides Sneak Peak Of ID.7 At CES. 

Digital Trends (1/3) reports Volkswagen gave a sneak peak of its new ID.7 electric car at CES 2023, with a full reveal to come in Q2 of this year. The “camouflaged prototype” VW showed off has the “same general shape as the ID.Aero,” and is based on the “same MEB platform as the VW ID.4 and ID.Buzz.” The ID.7 will introduce the sedan body style to VW’s MEB line, as well as an “updated interface with a 15.0-inch touchscreen, augmented reality heads-up display,” and more. The camouflage used is “also noteworthy,” an “electroluminescent design created with over 40 layers of paint, some which conduct electricity,” allowing a total of 22 different areas to be controlled to create “diffident light patterns” that can be synced with audio.

TechCrunch (1/3, Korosec), SlashGear (1/3), Ars Technica (1/3), and Insider (1/3, Levin).

NVIDIA, Foxconn Partner For Autonomous Vehicles. 

TechCrunch (1/3, Bellan) reports NVIDIA and Foxconn announced a partnership head of CES 2023 to develop automated and autonomous vehicle platforms. Foxconn will become a “primary supplier of electronic control units,” which will be built with NVIDIA’s Drive Orin system-on-a-chip. As part of the agreement, Foxconn will “build its own branded electric vehicles with Drive Orin ECUs and NVIDIA’s suite of sensors.” NVIDIA said the partnership will allow it to use Foxconn’s manufacturing to scale Drive Orin, while Foxconn will be able to use NVIDIA’s tech to speed up time-to-market and cut production costs.

Mercedes To Use NVIDIA’s Omniverse Enterprise For Factories. 

TechCrunch (1/3, Bellan) reports NVIDIA announced ahead of CES 2023 that Mercedes will use NVIDIA’s Omniverse Enterprise to “design, plan and optimize its factories” as it prepares to manufacture a new EV platform at its Rastatt, Germany location. Omniverse will allow Mercedes to build a “digital twin” of the factory to simulate new production processes without upending existing vehicle production, and NVIDIA asserts that having a virtual workflow will allow the automaker to react quickly to supply chain disruptions and reconfigure the assembly line. NVIDIA VP of automotive Danny Shapiro said, “So modelling all the vehicles going through the assembly, all the robots, all the factory workers, and being able to design and plan the production and the assembly plant before it is actually live. And so this is helping them streamline, moving over from an existing A class production into a new generation vehicle.”