NVIDIA Opens Up Hyperion 8 Autonomous Vehicle Platform for AV Ecosystem

Reference platform and source access to NVIDIA DRIVE software helps ecosystem to advance the future of AVs.
by Danny Shapiro

The next generation of vehicles will be packed with more technology than any computing system today.

And with NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion, companies can embrace this shift to more intelligent, software-defined vehicles. Announced at GTC, the eighth-generation Hyperion platform includes the sensors, high-performance compute and software necessary for autonomous vehicle development, all verified, calibrated and synchronized right out of the box.

Developing an AV — essentially a data center on wheels — requires an entirely new process. Both the hardware and software must be comprehensively tested and validated to ensure they can handle not only the real-time processing for autonomous driving, but also withstand the harsh conditions of daily driving.

Hyperion is a fully operational, production-ready and open autonomous vehicle platform that cuts down the massive amount of time and cost required to outfit vehicles with the technology required for AI features and autonomous driving.

What’s Included

Hyperion comes with all the hardware needed to validate an autonomous driving system at the highest levels of performance.

At its core, two NVIDIA DRIVE Orin systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) provide ample compute for level 4 self-driving and intelligent cockpit capabilities. These SoCs process data from a halo of 12 exterior cameras, three interior cameras, nine radars and two lidar sensors in real time for safe autonomous operation.

Hyperion also includes all the tools necessary to evaluate the NVIDIA DRIVE AV and DRIVE IX software stack, as well as real-time record and capture capabilities for streamlined driving data processing.

And this entire toolset is synchronized and calibrated precisely for 3D data collection, giving developers valuable time back in setting up and running autonomous vehicle test drives.

Seamless Integration

With much of the industry leveraging NVIDIA DRIVE Orin for in-vehicle compute, DRIVE Hyperion is the next step for full autonomous vehicle development and validation.

By including a complete sensor setup on top of centralized compute, Hyperion provides everything needed to validate an intelligent vehicle’s hardware on the road. And with its compatibility with the NVIDIA DRIVE AV and DRIVE IX software stacks, Hyperion is also a critical platform for evaluating and validating self-driving software.

Plus, it’s already streamlining critical self-driving research and development. Institutions such as the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and Stanford University are leveraging the current generation of Hyperion in autonomous vehicle research pilots.

Developers can begin leveraging the latest open platform soon — the eighth generation of Hyperion will be available to the NVIDIA DRIVE ecosystem later in 2021.