Nvidia lures autonomous car boss from China's Baidu
(2024/02/28)
- Reference: 1709105231
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/02/28/nvidia_hires_baidu_robocar_expert/
- Source link:
Nvidia has picked up the former head of Baidu's L2+ Autonomous Driving System, Luo Qi, to head the engineering team of its own automotive business unit.
According to [1]Qi , the PhD-holding engineer led development of China's first vision-based city Navigation On AutoPilot (NOA) product from its inception while in his last role at Baidu.
Baidu already operates robotaxis in several Chinese cities, with full autonomy allowed in at least three locations. Chinese authorities don't like to talk about failures, but The Register has heard of no incidents to compare with the sort of robotaxi fails seen in California, where some trials have been ended in ignominious circumstances.
[2]
Qi's position at Nvidia as director of engineering began this month, according to his LinkedIn profile. Reports in Chinese media [3]suggest he will take charge of forecasting, planning and control.
[4]
[5]
The Register has asked Nvidia for more information and will update this story if anything substantial arises.
Qi is not the first Chinese auto-auto expert to jump to Nvidia: head of automotive, Xinzhou Wu, hails from another Chinese automaker, XPeng. Dozens of XPeng staff reportedly made the same XPeng-to-Nvidia move after Wu.
[6]
After he made the move, Wu [7]listed the goals of Nvidia's automotive segment as being to partner with carmakers and "enable autonomy in mass production vehicles around the world, with AI technologies both in vehicle and in cloud."
"The future of mass-produced autonomous cars is not far anymore, as what we have observed in China market," [8]predicted Wu when he transitioned from XPeng to Nvidia six months ago.
[9]Apple's Titan(ic) iCar project is dead as self-driving dream fails to materialize
[10]Beijing grants permit to 'flying car' that can handle 'roads and low altitude'
[11]Dell APJ chief: Industry won't wait for Nvidia H100
[12]Boeing-backed air taxi upstart Wisk plans to fly you across town at UberX prices by 2030
While sanctions have [13]muted some technology development in China, the Middle Kingdom has done well with autonomous vehicles.
In January 2023, McKinsey & Company [14]declared China's automotive industry had entered "an age of unprecedented disruption."
The consulting firm [15]acknowledged last month that the race to deploy L4 vehicles first is widely seen as between the US and China.
[16]
It cited China's progress as driven by robust government backing, heightened investments in research and data availability, and a receptive consumer attitude.
Meanwhile, US-led efforts from the likes of GM subsidiary Cruise, Google's self-driving taxi subsidiary Waymo, and Apple's Project Titan have [17]hit snags . Bloomberg reported this week that Apple has thrown in the towel, although Cupertino hasn't confirmed that report – and also never actually confirmed it was working on a car.
Nvidia's autonomous driving unit has a presence in both China and the US, as do XPeng and Baidu.
The AI giant began investing in autonomous driving solutions in 2015. It's fair to say in the age of generative AI and [18]H100s , it's not the most hyped product from the California-based GPU-maker.
Q4 2023 results [19]released last week listed the acceleration champ's yearly automotive business segment as up 21 percent to $1.1 billion – an increase it [20]attributed [PDF] to "growth in self-driving platforms."
The segment's quarterly value of $281 million accounts for just over one percent of the quarter's total $22.1 billion revenue, but execs are hopeful of growth as more cars add more cameras that make them more suitable candidates for Nvidia's AI-crunching computers. ®
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[3] https://shanghaiist.com/former-baidu-apollo-technical-leader-luo-qi-joins-nvidias-automotive-business-unit/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zd8SWF7pPAZMXQUlFYUr1QAAAdY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[7] https://www.linkedin.com/in/xinzhouw/
[8] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7102127207984111617?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7102127207984111617%29
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/27/apple_autonomous_car_cancelled/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/31/xpeng_flying_car/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/07/dell_apj_president_says_industry/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/22/wisk_regulatory_challenges/
[13] https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-tech-distress-grows-as-u-s-chip-sanctions-bite-3022475c
[14] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/from-sci-fi-to-reality-autonomous-driving-in-china
[15] https://www.mckinsey.com/features/mckinsey-center-for-future-mobility/our-insights/autonomous-vehicles-moving-forward-perspectives-from-industry-leaders
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zd8SWF7pPAZMXQUlFYUr1QAAAdY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/27/apple_autonomous_car_cancelled/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/07/dell_apj_president_says_industry/
[19] https://investor.nvidia.com/news/press-release-details/2024/NVIDIA-Announces-Financial-Results-for-Fourth-Quarter-and-Fiscal-2024/
[20] https://s201.q4cdn.com/141608511/files/doc_financials/2024/Q4FY24/Q4FY24-CFO-Commentary.pdf
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
According to [1]Qi , the PhD-holding engineer led development of China's first vision-based city Navigation On AutoPilot (NOA) product from its inception while in his last role at Baidu.
Baidu already operates robotaxis in several Chinese cities, with full autonomy allowed in at least three locations. Chinese authorities don't like to talk about failures, but The Register has heard of no incidents to compare with the sort of robotaxi fails seen in California, where some trials have been ended in ignominious circumstances.
[2]
Qi's position at Nvidia as director of engineering began this month, according to his LinkedIn profile. Reports in Chinese media [3]suggest he will take charge of forecasting, planning and control.
[4]
[5]
The Register has asked Nvidia for more information and will update this story if anything substantial arises.
Qi is not the first Chinese auto-auto expert to jump to Nvidia: head of automotive, Xinzhou Wu, hails from another Chinese automaker, XPeng. Dozens of XPeng staff reportedly made the same XPeng-to-Nvidia move after Wu.
[6]
After he made the move, Wu [7]listed the goals of Nvidia's automotive segment as being to partner with carmakers and "enable autonomy in mass production vehicles around the world, with AI technologies both in vehicle and in cloud."
"The future of mass-produced autonomous cars is not far anymore, as what we have observed in China market," [8]predicted Wu when he transitioned from XPeng to Nvidia six months ago.
[9]Apple's Titan(ic) iCar project is dead as self-driving dream fails to materialize
[10]Beijing grants permit to 'flying car' that can handle 'roads and low altitude'
[11]Dell APJ chief: Industry won't wait for Nvidia H100
[12]Boeing-backed air taxi upstart Wisk plans to fly you across town at UberX prices by 2030
While sanctions have [13]muted some technology development in China, the Middle Kingdom has done well with autonomous vehicles.
In January 2023, McKinsey & Company [14]declared China's automotive industry had entered "an age of unprecedented disruption."
The consulting firm [15]acknowledged last month that the race to deploy L4 vehicles first is widely seen as between the US and China.
[16]
It cited China's progress as driven by robust government backing, heightened investments in research and data availability, and a receptive consumer attitude.
Meanwhile, US-led efforts from the likes of GM subsidiary Cruise, Google's self-driving taxi subsidiary Waymo, and Apple's Project Titan have [17]hit snags . Bloomberg reported this week that Apple has thrown in the towel, although Cupertino hasn't confirmed that report – and also never actually confirmed it was working on a car.
Nvidia's autonomous driving unit has a presence in both China and the US, as do XPeng and Baidu.
The AI giant began investing in autonomous driving solutions in 2015. It's fair to say in the age of generative AI and [18]H100s , it's not the most hyped product from the California-based GPU-maker.
Q4 2023 results [19]released last week listed the acceleration champ's yearly automotive business segment as up 21 percent to $1.1 billion – an increase it [20]attributed [PDF] to "growth in self-driving platforms."
The segment's quarterly value of $281 million accounts for just over one percent of the quarter's total $22.1 billion revenue, but execs are hopeful of growth as more cars add more cameras that make them more suitable candidates for Nvidia's AI-crunching computers. ®
Get our [21]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/qiluopurdue/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zd8SWF7pPAZMXQUlFYUr1QAAAdY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://shanghaiist.com/former-baidu-apollo-technical-leader-luo-qi-joins-nvidias-automotive-business-unit/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zd8SWF7pPAZMXQUlFYUr1QAAAdY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zd8SWF7pPAZMXQUlFYUr1QAAAdY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zd8SWF7pPAZMXQUlFYUr1QAAAdY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.linkedin.com/in/xinzhouw/
[8] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7102127207984111617?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7102127207984111617%29
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/27/apple_autonomous_car_cancelled/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/31/xpeng_flying_car/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/07/dell_apj_president_says_industry/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/22/wisk_regulatory_challenges/
[13] https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-tech-distress-grows-as-u-s-chip-sanctions-bite-3022475c
[14] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/from-sci-fi-to-reality-autonomous-driving-in-china
[15] https://www.mckinsey.com/features/mckinsey-center-for-future-mobility/our-insights/autonomous-vehicles-moving-forward-perspectives-from-industry-leaders
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zd8SWF7pPAZMXQUlFYUr1QAAAdY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/27/apple_autonomous_car_cancelled/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/07/dell_apj_president_says_industry/
[19] https://investor.nvidia.com/news/press-release-details/2024/NVIDIA-Announces-Financial-Results-for-Fourth-Quarter-and-Fiscal-2024/
[20] https://s201.q4cdn.com/141608511/files/doc_financials/2024/Q4FY24/Q4FY24-CFO-Commentary.pdf
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Ah yes, jaywalking laws
Pascal Monett
Those things that were litterally created by and for automotive companies to limit their responsibility for people on foot getting run over by carelesss people in cars . . .
Thankfully, here in France (and in most of Europe, unless I'm mistaken), jaywaling laws have been repealed. It's the person on foot who has priority, always, whatever the conditions.
Anonymous Coward
Did you woo Wu to your crew from Baidu too?
Been here before
Based on the limited amount available in the public domain, it seems that China are moving ahead with autonomous vehicles, and the US has stalled, put off by an apparently small number of failures. There's no reason to believe the Chinese technology is any better - it'll be just as limited by the quality of sensors and what can be achieved with a complex algorithm.
The key difference is that in the US, the relatively modest problems that have occurred are trumpeted and magnified (especially by the lawyers and a sensationalist press), and whether through fear of litigation, or because of regulation, overall development efforts are being reduced. Meanwhile, in China the same problems will have occurred, but been hushed up to save face (it will also help there's stricter enforcement of jaywalking laws).
I'm rather reminded of Britain's notorious Red Flag Act of 1865, which hobbled development of early cars, allowing other countries to move ahead.