Taiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has partnered with American graphics chip designer Nvidia Corp. to develop automated and autonomous vehicle platforms.
Under the strategic partnership agreement, iPhone assembler Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn in international markets, will serve as a tier-one manufacturer to roll out electronic control units based on the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin platform for the global automotive market, Nvidia said in a statement released Tuesday (U.S. time).
The American tech giant said Hon Hai-made electric vehicles (EVs) would feature DRIVE Orin ECUs and DRIVE Hyperion sensors to develop self-driving capabilities.
According to Nvidia, the automotive-grade NVIDIA DRIVE Orin system-on-a-chip achieves up to 254 trillion operations per second and is designed to handle the large number of applications and deep neural networks that run simultaneously in self-driving vehicles.
NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion is a modular development platform and reference architecture for designing autonomous vehicles.
The combination of NVIDIA DRIVE Orin and NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion will serve as the brain and central nerve system of a self-driving vehicle to process massive amounts of sensor data in real time and ensure the safety of the autonomous vehicle, Nvidia said.
“This strategic cooperation with NVIDIA strengthens the intelligent driving solutions Foxconn will be able to provide. Together, we are enabling the industry to build energy-efficient, automated vehicles,”Eric Yeh (???), senior director of Hon Hai’s Software Development Center, said in the statement.
“This is a well-considered partnership that leverages unique strengths on each side in the pursuit of innovative EV development and opportunities,” Yeh said.
Nvidia said the partnership with Hon Hai would allow NVIDIA to further scale its efforts and meet growing industry demand as more transportation leaders select DRIVE Orin for intelligent vehicles, while through its efforts in building EVs using the DRIVE Hyperion qualified sensor set, Hon Hai was expected to speed up its time-to-market and time-to-cost strategies.
Speaking with CNA, Hon Hai said a move to team up with Nvidia was aimed at helping the company provide self-driving solutions based on a “contract design and manufacturing service (CDMS)” business model.
In addition, Hon Hai said the cooperation was also expected to help the company design and manufacture “autonomous driving control units” (ADCUs) for EV production.
In recent years, Hon Hai has intensified efforts on its “3 plus 3” initiative in a bid to transform itself from a pure contract electronics manufacturer to a company which is able to integrate its hardware and software strengths and boost its profit margin.
The “3 plus 3” initiative refers to three emerging industries — EVs, robotics, and digital health care — that utilize artificial intelligence, semiconductor, and communication technology. EVs have become a critical part of the initiative.
Hon Hai has also pushed for the MIH EV open platform, which was initiated by Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co., a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Yulon Motor, and aims to build the platform as the “Android of the electric vehicle industry.”
So far, the MIH alliance has a total of 2,561 members from 68 countries and regions in the world.
Before the deal with Nvidia, Hon Hai’s high-precision interconnect component subsidiary FIT Hon Teng Ltd., whose shares are traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said Monday that it had entered an agreement to acquire automotive wire harness maker PRETTL SWH group for 186 million euros (US$197 million) to horizontally expand its core capabilities in EV components and mobility solutions.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel