- ES90 will be the first Volvo to use double AGX Orin chips
- ‘Superset Stack’ facilitates 508 trillion operations per Second
- EX90 SUV will also be upgraded to new system-on-a-chip
Volvo has announced that the upcoming ES90, a super-slim electric sedan that will be fully revealed on March 5, will be the most powerful car it has ever created in terms of core computing capacity.
Hot on the heels of the seven-seat EX90 SUV, which was the first allelektric Volvo to debut Nvidia’s Drive Computing Platform with Xavier and Orin System-A-C-CHIP (SOC), the upcoming ES90 will pack a double AGX ORIN ORIN Configuration – the bleeding edge of Nvidia’s car technology.
Slightly confusing names aside, Volvo says its Superset Tech stack is now capable of performing 508 trillion operations per day. Second (Tops), as opposed to the 250 tops available in the EX90.
“This allows us to further raise the bar of security and collected performance through data, software and AI,” says Volvo.
In short, this extra computing power allows the Swedish company to further utilize advanced levels of AI to help with things like battery management and efficiency as well as realize its high security ambitions.
The Volvo EX90 was promised to be launched with the very best in the car manufacturer’s security systems that take feeds from cameras, ultrasound sensors, radar and an advanced Luminar Lidar system to create a 360-degree view of the world no matter time of day.
Unfortunately, the system was not ready at the time of launch, and instead, Volvo’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) team would be better to introduce the security systems as an over-the-air update over time. Many of these features still did not realize.
However, Volvo has said that all its upcoming electric vehicles will now use this Superset tech stack, which allows the company to “increase the performance of each car in the lineup at the same time”.
When reading between the lines, it appears that ES90’s advanced levels of computing power allow Volvo to introduce its aforementioned SAFE SPACE technology, which is designed to avoid accidents and dangers on the road, much before and to several vehicles in one Quick Software Update Hit.
As a result, the Swedish company has said that the double NVIDIA -drive AGX Orin configuration will be implemented on all EX90 cars and that existing customers are getting the hardware upgrade for free.
A generous step on Volvo’s front or access to its existing NVIDIA setup actually not powerful enough for it to reach its vision for SAE level 3 autonomous driving and the next generation of security systems? You decide.
Analysis: Volvo’s next general security system is the future of luxury
While we are still in any way away from SAE level 4 or even fully autonomous driving, Volvo believes that ridiculous levels of computing power and the latest package of sensor technology separate its cars from the competition.
During a chat at the Volvo EX90 launch, the Senior Function Developer Collision (alias adas man) told Martin Magnusson that modern security systems are such a nanny that is a real risk condition that turns off them.
Instead, he feels that by letting AI Sile through the data of data provided by cameras, sensors and radar, it allows the car to really have “an extra pair of eyes” as he expresses it.
With the new levels of core computing power, Volvo’s advanced security suite can constantly scan the environment, keep tabs on pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users and predict what they will do next – rather than just responding at the last minute with intrusive emergency braking measures.
“We will completely exclude ghost brake situations or the experiences where security systems jump in for no reason,” Magnusson told me.
These are fascinating things and a whole new approach to security, which has typically seen the manufacturers pile on the technology to hit Euro NCAP and other safety standards instead of sitting back and deciding if it is working, or adding value.
With the huge amount of computing power now offered by Nvidia, it seems that Volvo could finally make its vision of the next generation of the car’s safety.
