Nvidia enters the race for self-driving cars. The chip giant is planning a robotaxi service and is demonstrating AI vehicles on the road with Mercedes. Group CEO Jensen Huang promises cars that analyze traffic situations like humans.
06.01.2026, 08:21 a.m.
Las Vegas. Chip giant Nvidia wants to use its AI expertise to shake up the self-driving car business. A robotaxi service based on the company's technology is to be launched next year together with a partner. At the CES in Las Vegas, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang promised cars with artificial intelligence that analyze traffic situations and make decisions like a human behind the wheel. Between 2028 and 2030, Nvidia also wants to bring the technology to private vehicles.
A few weeks before the technology trade fair, Nvidia demonstrated the current state of the art together with Mercedes-Benz. A production vehicle of the new Mercedes CLA model navigated through San Francisco traffic, observing right-of-way rules, traffic lights, traffic signs and pedestrians. During a route lasting around 45 minutes, the safety driver had to intervene in a few situations.
Cameras and radars
In the city, the software has to interpret whether people want to cross the road or are just standing on the sidewalk, among other things. The CLA records its surroundings with ten cameras and five radars. For the Robotaxi, Nvidia also wants to use laser radars to scan the vehicle's surroundings. Tesla boss Elon Musk is therefore still alone in his plan to use only cameras for self-driving cars. Nvidia is focusing on bringing its technology and software to vehicles from various manufacturers in the coming years.
Google's sister company Waymo, which operates 2,500 driverless robotaxis in several US cities, is currently considered the leader in autonomous driving.
Other competitors also presented themselves at the technology trade fair in Las Vegas. The ride-hailing company Uber showed electric cars from Tesla's challenger Lucid, which are to be deployed as robotaxis in San Francisco later this year. The cars with a distinctive superstructure on the roof are controlled by software from the developer company Nuro. Self-driving vehicles without steering wheels or pedals from Amazon subsidiary Zoox are already on the road in Las Vegas.
New Nvidia chip in production
Huang also used the CES to announce the start of production of the next Nvidia chip system called Vera Rubin. According to the company, it is ten times more efficient than the previous Blackwell generation. Nvidia chips have become a key technology for artificial intelligence applications in recent years.
