With autonomous driving relying on AI capabilities becoming a battleground in the automotive industry, Nvidia's cooperation with Chinese car companies is becoming increasingly close.
Recently, Nvidia stated that the company is expanding its cooperation with Chinese car manufacturers such as BYD. Among them, BYD will use NVIDIA's next-generation in car chip DriveThor to improve the level of its vehicles' autonomous driving and other digital functions.
In 2024, NOA advanced intelligent driving has become the focus of the automotive intelligence race, and the market share competition among manufacturers such as Nvidia and Huawei HiSilicon is becoming increasingly fierce. An industry expert told reporters, "Car companies that do not have standard intelligent driving assistance systems in 2024 may gradually be abandoned by consumers, and even some cities may fully open up NOA functions to consumers for free."
NVIDIA Holds Hands with Multiple Chinese Automobile Companies
During a conference call, Danny Shapiro, Vice President of NVIDIA Automotive Business, stated, "China has numerous car manufacturers who actively promote innovation and benefit from a regulatory environment conducive to the development of autonomous driving technology."
At present, some top Chinese car companies have established close cooperation with Nvidia. Danny Shapiro revealed that BYD will use Nvidia's technology to simplify factories and supply chains, as well as develop virtual showrooms. Nvidia's next generation car chip, DriveThor, will enter BYD next year.
On March 19, 2024, Beijing time, at the NVIDIA GTC Developer Conference held in San Jose, California, NVIDIA also announced the strengthening of cooperation with multiple Chinese car companies, including BYD, Xiaopeng, and the Hyper brand under GAC Aion. Previously, Geely's Geely Jike and Ideal Motors both announced that they would adopt NVIDIA's DriveThor technology.
It is understood that Nvidia's automotive business is the company's fourth largest business segment outside of data centers, gaming, and professional visualization. In the fiscal year 2024 (as of January 28, 2024), Nvidia's automotive business revenue reached $1.1 billion (approximately RMB 7.9 billion), a year-on-year increase of 21%.
Nvidia's financial report shows that its successor product DriveThor can provide more AI performance and integrate a wide range of intelligent functions into a single AI computing platform, including autonomous driving and parking, driver and passenger monitoring, and AI cockpit functions. It is planned to be launched next year.
According to incomplete statistics by reporters, currently in the automotive industry, NIO's intelligent driving car ES7 is equipped with four NVIDIA DriveOrin chips. Car companies such as BYD, Mercedes Benz, and Volvo have already equipped their models with NVIDIA DriveOrin chips or software platforms.
NOA Advanced Intelligent Driving Becomes the Focus of Competition
If 2023 is the year when City NOA (Navigation On Autopilot) is launched, then 2024 is the year when China's NOA advanced intelligent driving will expand. Strengthening cooperation with Chinese car companies has become a necessary path for Nvidia to expand its market share.
In 2023, cars equipped with urban NOA functions will be launched on a large scale in the Chinese market. In June 2023, the Xiaopeng G6 was launched, and in September of the same year, the Wenjie M7 was launched, leading consumers to perceive intelligent driving. Subsequently, intelligent driving models such as Zhiji LS6 and Zhijie S7 were successively launched, and different brand new cars such as Ideal MEGA, Extreme Krypton 007, and Star Era ES were also equipped with LiDAR, which has the ability to achieve autonomous driving through OTA.
According to a research report by Guojin Securities, urban NOA will be the winner or loser for the next few years, with a selection rate of over 50%. Car companies with leading urban NOA algorithms will gradually gain a competitive advantage.
In the NOA field, Nvidia holds the leading market share. According to the latest "2023 Market Share Ranking of NOA Calculation Solutions for Passenger Vehicle Frontend Standard Equipment in the Chinese Market" released by the Institute of Intelligent Automotive Technology, Nvidia's market share reached 48.99% in 2023, ranking first, Horizon's market share was 35.49%, ranking second, and Huawei HiSilicon's market share was 7.99%, ranking third.
According to statistics from the High Tech Intelligent Automotive Research Institute, the average price of new cars delivered with standard NOA in 2023 has decreased from 397500 yuan in 2022 to 352400 yuan. Brands such as SAIC Roewe (third-generation Roewe RX5) and Geely (Boyue L) have lowered the configuration of NOA to the price range of 150000 yuan, promoting the continuous increase of NOA penetration rate.
According to the prediction of the Chinese Society of Automotive Engineers, L3 level autonomous driving and NOA city navigation assistance driving will be among the top ten technologies in China's automotive industry in 2024, and 2023 will become the first year for the implementation of urban NOA.
Against the backdrop of the rapid popularization of intelligent driving capabilities in the Chinese automotive industry, the market share of Chinese independent brands is also expected to further increase. According to a research report by Hualong Securities, the improvement of intelligent driving product strength continues to widen the experience gap with joint venture brands. With the promotion and popularization of advanced intelligent driving functions such as urban NOA in 2024, and the penetration of intelligent driving into mid to low end price range models driven by cost reduction, the difference in product strength between domestic brands and joint venture brands has further increased.