Nvidia partners with BYD, Geely, Hyundai, Isuzu, Nissan and Uber

While Nvidia may still be best known to many as a graphics card manufacturer, the company – founded in California in 1993 – has become the world’s most valuable enterprise, with a market valuation of $4.4 trillion. It has achieved this by powering a significant portion of the global AI infrastructure. Additionally, autonomous driving and robotaxis predominantly rely on Nvidia technology, which enables ultra-fast AI computations directly in the vehicle rather than via the cloud.

As a result, an increasing number of automotive manufacturers and mobility service providers are adopting Nvidia’s technology. At its flagship event, Nvidia GTC 2026 (GPU Technology Conference)—often described as ‘Woodstock for AI’—the company has announced several new and expanded partnerships in the field of autonomous driving.

Let’s examine these collaborations in detail. The ride-hailing app Uber and Nvidia are expanding their previously announced partnership for robotaxis. The rollout is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the first half of 2027, with the fleet set to expand to 28 cities offering driverless services across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia by 2028. At the heart of this implementation are the Nvidia Drive Hyperion autonomous vehicle platform and Nvidia Alpamayo, a next-generation AI model for autonomous vehicles. This model relies on reasoning to handle complex scenarios, such as unpredictable roadworks or erratic pedestrian behaviour, using chain-of-thought logic.

“Autonomous technology holds enormous promise to make transportation safer, more reliable, and more accessible,” says Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “By expanding our partnership with NVIDIA and combining advanced AI with Uber’s global network and operating experience, we are laying the foundation for an increasingly multi-player AV world, ensuring broad commercialization and helping to bring robotaxi service to more riders over time.”

The sister companies Hyundai and Kia, including their robotaxi joint venture Motional (with supplier Aptiv), are also expanding their partnerships with Nvidia. Hyundai plans to integrate Nvidia’s Level 2 driver assistance systems into its vehicles. Furthermore, Nvidia and Motional are exploring an extended partnership to advance Level 4 robotaxi capabilities and accelerate next-generation autonomous mobility services.

“he expanded partnership with NVIDIA marks an important milestone in realizing Hyundai Motor Group’s vision for safe and reliable autonomous driving technology,” says Heung-Soo Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of the Global Strategy Office at Hyundai Motor Group. “Based on a unified, Group‑wide collaborative framework, we will strengthen our differentiated technological competitiveness — from Level 2 and above autonomous driving technology to Level 4 robotaxi services.”

Meanwhile, automakers BYD, Geely, and Nissan are planning vehicles capable of Level 4 autonomy, utilising the Nvidia Drive Hyperion platform. “The autonomous vehicle revolution is here — the first multitrillion-dollar robotics industry,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia. “Everything that moves will eventually be autonomous. The NVIDIA Hyperion platform and our Alpamayo open reasoning models give vehicles the ability to perceive their surroundings, reason through complex situations and act safely — making scalable, level 4 autonomy possible.”

Isuzu and Japanese deep-tech startup Tier IV are collaborating on the development of Level 4 autonomous buses using the Nvidia Drive AGX Thor system-on-a-chip, which is part of the Nvidia Drive Hyperion platform. “This collaboration marks a definitive milestone for autonomous transit,” says Shinpei Kato, founder and CEO of Tier IV. “By fusing Isuzu’s legendary engineering with NVIDIA’s Thor AI compute, we have built an unmatched foundation for Level 4 transit driven by Autoware.”

Update 18 March 2026

Estonian ride-hailing platform Bolt is also planning a collaboration with Nvidia in the field of robotaxis. While Nvidia is set to supply its ‘Drive Hyperion’ technology, Bolt will provide its fleet data. The aim is to create an AI foundation for scaling autonomous vehicles in Europe.

Most recently, Bolt Technology announced a partnership with Pony.ai in November to bring autonomous driving to Europe. The goal is to integrate the Chinese company’s Level 4 technology into Bolt’s mobility ecosystem. Initial real-world trials are already planned for 2026.

nvidia.com (BYD, Geely, Isuzu, Nissan), hyundai.com, uber.com, tier4.jp, bolt.eu (update)