During his keynote at GTC this week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declared that “the Chat-GPT moment for self-driving cars has arrived.” 

Following up on the open autonomous platform the company teased back in January, Nvidia has officially unveiled a massive expansion of its self-driving ambitions. This includes a fleet of new automotive partners, a massive update to its underlying AI architecture, and a direct shot at Tesla’s Cybercab: a global robotaxi network.

The Uber Robotaxi Network

The biggest news from the presentation was the announcement that Nvidia is partnering with ride-hailing giant Uber to launch a global network of Level 4 autonomous robotaxis.

The service is slated to begin rolling out in Los Angeles and San Francisco in early 2027. But Nvidia and Uber aren’t planning to stop on the West Coast.

The aggressive roadmap outlines a rapid expansion to 28 cities by 2028. This move changes the landscape of the robotaxi race, transforming Nvidia from a hardware supplier into a direct competitor against Tesla’s upcoming autonomous fleet.

A Massive Automotive Alliance

To put these robotaxis on the road, Nvidia is continuing to aggressively license its technology to legacy automakers and EV startups alike. At GTC, Huang announced that the company is officially expanding its self-driving partnership to include BYD, Nissan, Hyundai, and Geely.

This adds to an already staggering roster of automotive partners utilizing Nvidia’s platform, which currently includes GM, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo, Rivian, XPENG, Polestar, NIO, Lucid, Li Auto, Isuzu, Zeekr, Xiaomi, and Stellantis.

While Tesla executives like Elon Musk and Ashok Elluswamy have previously weighed in on the extreme difficulties of creating a generalized self-driving system that works across dozens of different vehicle architectures, Nvidia is betting heavily that its platform can become the universal brain for the rest of the automotive industry.

Alpamayo 1.5: 10-Billion Parameters

Underpinning all of these partnerships is a massive update to Nvidia’s autonomy software stack. Dr. Marco Pavone, Nvidia’s Director of Autonomous Vehicle Research, detailed the release of Alpamayo 1.5 to the developer community.

Building on the foundation introduced at CES earlier this year, Alpamayo 1.5 is an open, 10-billion-parameter chain-of-thought reasoning model. Built on the Cosmos-Reason2 backbone and post-trained with reinforcement learning, this new model adds crucial capabilities for automakers. 

Because Nvidia has to account for so many different vehicle designs from its partners, Alpamayo 1.5 now natively supports highly flexible, configurable multi-camera setups. Pavone described the result as an “interactive, steerable reasoning engine.” 

Nvidia is also expanding its open data platform by releasing highly requested reasoning labels for its PhysicalAI Autonomous Vehicles dataset, giving developers the tools they need to train and adapt the model for their specific fleets.

With a 10-billion-parameter reasoning engine, an army of legacy manufacturing partners, and the logistics network of Uber at its disposal, Nvidia has made it clear that the robotaxi race is officially well underway.

NVIDIA’s Keynote

You can watch Nvidia’s keynote below. The autonomous vehicle section begins at the 2-hour, 6-minute mark.

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Starting today, owners of Dodge, Jeep, Ram, FIAT, and Maserati electric vehicles in North America can officially plug into Tesla’s massive Supercharger network.

This marks the official onboarding of Stellantis, unlocking access to more than 27,500 fast-charging stalls across the continent for its EV drivers. It is a significant quality-of-life upgrade for current owners of the Fiat 500e and for future buyers of upcoming EVs such as the Jeep Wagoneer S and Dodge Charger Daytona.

The Adapter Situation

As with previous legacy automaker integrations, current Stellantis EVs on the road are equipped with standard CCS charge ports. To seamlessly use the Supercharger network, these owners will need to utilize an approved NACS to CCS adapter for non-Magic Dock sites.

While the adapter bridges the gap for the current fleet, Stellantis has already committed to adopting Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) natively on its future electric vehicles, which will eventually eliminate the need for an adapter entirely.

Magic Dock

In the meantime, besides purchasing a third-party adapter, owners can navigate to newer V4 Supercharger sites that feature the Magic Dock, enabling compatibility for CCS vehicles right at the charger using the Tesla app.

Once you select a stall in the app, the Magic Dock will unlock the CCS1 adapter and lock it to the NACS connector, enabling you to plug in without any extra adapters required.

The Complete List

With Stellantis officially in the fold, the roster of third-party automakers with access to the Supercharger network is nearly complete. Over the last two years, Tesla has successfully unified the North American charging landscape, turning its proprietary network into the undisputed industry standard.

Here is the updated, comprehensive list of all automakers that currently have official access to the Tesla Supercharger network:

• Acura

• Audi

• BMW

• Ford

• General Motors (Chevy, GMC, Cadillac)

• Genesis

• Honda

• Hyundai

• JLR (Jaguar Land Rover)

• Kia

• Lucid

• Mercedes-Benz

• Nissan

• Polestar

• Porsche

• Rivian

• Stellantis (Dodge, Jeep, Ram, FIAT, Maserati)

• Subaru

• Toyota

• Volkswagen

• Volvo

The Holdouts

There are three notable automakers left who aren’t on the list. Of the three, Mazda and VinFast have both agreed to join the Tesla Supercharger network and adopt NACS, but haven’t done so yet. Mazda intends to join as soon as they launch a new EV in North America, while VinFast has delayed activation since 2023.

Mitsubishi is officially the very last major automaker in North America that has not adopted NACS. They have never announced a partnership with Tesla, they have no plans to transition to the NACS port, and their vehicles (like the Outlander PHEV) do not have access to the Supercharger network.

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Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software is once again under the microscope as federal regulators ramp up their scrutiny of how the system handles bad weather. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced this week that it has officially upgraded its probe into Tesla’s FSD (Supervised) to an “engineering analysis,” a move that signals a much deeper level of investigation.

The inquiry, cataloged under campaign number EA26002, centers on the performance of the software during reduced visibility conditions like heavy rain, thick fog, and intense sun glare. While a preliminary review has been active since late 2023, this upgrade broadens the scope to approximately 3.2 million Tesla vehicles, covering nearly every Tesla currently on U.S. roads.

From Preliminary Review to Engineering Analysis

An engineering analysis is a significant step in the regulatory process. It is often the final phase required before the agency decides whether to tell a company to issue an over-the-air (OTA) recall. However, it is important to note that this doesn’t automatically mean a recall is coming; it just means the NHTSA needs more data to ensure the system is safe.

The investigation specifically looks at incidents where FSD or Autopilot may have struggled in poor visibility without properly prompting drivers to take over. Last May, the NHTSA expanded this probe to include Tesla’s Robotaxi plans, questioning how a vehicle with no one behind the steering wheel (or no steering wheel altogether) would manage if the “vision” system is blinded by weather.

A Long History of Regulatory Friction

This is far from Tesla’s first dance with the NHTSA. The company has a documented history of landing in hot water over its autonomous ambitions. Last fall, regulators took issue with FSD’s “Mad Max” speed profile, which is designed for more aggressive lane changes.

Other past investigations have looked into Actually Smart Summon following low-speed parking lot collisions, as well as concerns over FSD blowing through red lights and stop signs. It isn’t just software, either; the agency recently opened an investigation into Tesla’s emergency door release and door handle design.

Innovation vs. Regulation

The timing of this upgrade is particularly interesting. Earlier this month, the NHTSA committed to softening regulations for autonomous vehicles to encourage innovation. This suggests a “carrot and stick” approach: the government wants to allow for self-driving progress, but it will continue to penalize any perceived safety gaps in current systems.

Tesla has always maintained that, at least for now, FSD requires a fully attentive driver who is ready to intervene at any moment. However, as the company pushes toward an “unsupervised” future with FSD and the Cybercab, proving that its cameras can “see” through a rainstorm as well as a human can will be the ultimate test.

For now, 3.2 million owners will have to wait and see if this engineering analysis results in another software update to tweak how FSD behaves when the clouds roll in.

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