NVIDIA Unveils DRIVE AGX Thor Developer Kit for Autonomous Vehicles

NVIDIA has announced the availability of its DRIVE AGX Thor developer kit, aimed at accelerating the development of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and intelligent mobility solutions. According to NVIDIA, the kit is available for preorder with deliveries expected in September. This launch marks a significant advancement in AV technology, providing developers with a robust platform to integrate sophisticated AI models and sensor technologies.

The DRIVE AGX Thor Platform

The DRIVE AGX Thor developer kit is built on NVIDIA’s next-generation Blackwell architecture, featuring Arm Neoverse V3AE CPUs and the NVIDIA DriveOS 7 software stack. It is specifically designed to support reasoning vision language action models, which are crucial for AV development. The kit includes ample I/O to accommodate surround cameras, radars, lidars, and standard vehicle interfaces such as GbE/10GbE and PCI-Express. Notably, it meets the stringent functional safety (ISO 26262) and cybersecurity requirements (ISO 21434) of the automotive industry.

Expanding Ecosystem and Partnerships

Several leading automotive manufacturers and autonomous trucking companies are already incorporating NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor into their systems. Companies such as BYD, GAC, IM Motors, Li Auto, Volvo Cars, Xiaomi, and Zeekr are leveraging this technology to enhance their AV capabilities. Additionally, autonomous trucking entities like Aurora, Gatik, PlusAI, and Waabi are utilizing the platform for their driverless solutions.

The DRIVE AGX Thor ecosystem extends to AV software platforms used by NVIDIA partners including DeepRoute.ai, Nuro, WeRide, and ZYT. Tier 1 suppliers like Continental Automotive, Desay SV, Lenovo, Magna, and Quanta have also integrated DRIVE AGX Thor into their production systems.

Focus on Safety

Safety is a cornerstone of NVIDIA’s AV systems. The DRIVE AGX Thor and DriveOS are integral to NVIDIA Halos, a comprehensive safety system that combines hardware and software safety technologies with AI research. Halos provides a holistic safety approach, encompassing platform, algorithmic, and ecosystem safety, as well as design, deployment, and validation-time guardrails. It utilizes NVIDIA’s powerful computing solutions, including DGX for AI training, Omniverse and Cosmos for simulation, and DRIVE AGX for deployment.

Getting Started

For developers interested in exploring the capabilities of the DRIVE AGX Thor kit, NVIDIA offers an unboxing video and access to the DRIVE AGX SDK Developer Program. More information about the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Thor developer kit and Jetson T5000 modules, both designed to empower robotics developers, is also available through NVIDIA’s official channels.

For further information, visit the NVIDIA blog.

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