CES 2015 – Nvidia Launches Tegra X1 ‘Super Chip’ For Mobile, Connected Cars

Nvidia has announced its most powerful mobile chip to date, the Tegra X1, which it says can rival the power of supercomputers and game consoles.

Company CEO Jen-Hsun Huang unveiled the X1 at CES yesterday during the company’s keynote speech, revealing that it packs in a full teraflop of computing power into a slice of silicon no bigger than a thumbnail.

Set to arrive in new devices in the first half of 2015, the 20nm “super chip” includes a 256 core Maxwell GPU and 8 CPU cores (4x ARM Cortex A57 + 4x ARM Cortex A53). It provides twice the power of its predecessor, the Tegra K1, which was announced at last year’s show, and has more horsepower than the fastest supercomputer of 15 years ago, ASCI Red, which was the world’s first teraflops system.

Self-drive

Asides from just powering mobile devices, however, the Tegra X1 will also be powering Nvidia’s newly-announced in-car computing system, Nvidia Drive, which looks to make driving smarter and safer through technology.

The company’s new initiatives include DRIVE PX, an auto-pilot computing platform that processes video from up to 12 onboard cameras to provide a seamless 360-degree ‘Surround-Vision’ view around the car, as well as an Auto-Valet self-parking tool.

Also announced was DRIVE CX, a platform which looks to support the increasing need for advanced graphics from sources such as infotainment, head-up displays, virtual mirrors and rear-seat entertainment.

“We see a future of autonomous cars, robots and drones that see and learn, with seeming intelligence that is hard to imagine,” said Huang. “They will make possible safer driving, more secure cities and great conveniences for all of us.”

“To achieve this dream, enormous advances in visual and parallel computing are required. The Tegra X1 mobile super chip, with its one teraflops of processing power, is a giant step into this revolution.”

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