It’s a big week for NVIDIA, adding Magna International to its growing list of auto industry partners using its AI and advanced driver-assistance systems technology the same week it announced a major partnership with General Motors.
The deal with Magna, the fourth-largest Tier 1 auto supplier in the world by revenue, calls for integrating the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor system-on-a-chip within Magna’s next generation AI applications for software-defined vehicles, various levels of autonomous driving and vehicle advanced interior cabin technology solutions. NVIDIA’s chips run the safety-certified DriveOS operating system and is built on the Blackwell GPU architecture.
Magna says it will develop and test the latest advancements in L2+ through L4 active safety solutions on DRIVE Thor.
“Combining NVIDIA accelerated compute and AI capabilities with Magna’s extensive automotive expertise and innovation, we aim to explore new standards for next-generation SDV intelligence and autonomy,” says Steven Jenkins, vice president of Technology Strategy at Magna Electronics. “Our collaboration allows us to develop market applications for AI-powered solutions that could redefine the driving experience and address the evolving demands of the automotive industry.”
Magna has been actively expanding its capabilities in ADAS and SDVs as part of its long-term strategy to align with the automotive industry’s shift toward electrification, automation, and connected technologies.
The company views ADAS and software as core growth areas, and it has invested heavily in both organic R&D and strategic acquisitions to build a comprehensive technology stack.
In the ADAS domain, Magna develops a broad range of products including cameras, radar, lidar, domain controllers and perception software. These systems support functions such as adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking, lane keeping and highway driving assistance.
One of Magna’s key differentiators is its ability to integrate these components into complete systems, backed by its experience in vehicle systems integration. The company also collaborates with technology firms and automakers to accelerate the rollout of scalable ADAS platforms, offering solutions that range from Level 1 driver assistance to Level 3 conditional automation.
On the SDV front, Magna is positioning itself to be a systems integrator and software provider for next-generation E/E architectures. As vehicles increasingly rely on centralized computing and over-the-air software updates, Magna has developed embedded software and middleware that support real-time operating systems, functional safety and cybersecurity. It has also partnered with companies like LG and Aptiv to co-develop key technologies for digital cockpit systems and advanced electronics.
“As the automotive industry transitions to safer, more intelligent vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities, our collaboration with Magna is the latest in our endeavors to bring our safety-certified in-vehicle accelerated compute and AI to the transportation industry,” says Ali Kani, vice president of Automotive at NVIDIA. “By combining core technologies and Magna’s integration expertise, we aim to shape the future of mobility.”
According to NVIDIA, DRIVE AGX Thor delivers up to 1,000 trillion operations per second of AI compute power, featuring 8-bit floating point support optimized for transformer models, large language models and generative AI workloads.
Canada-based Magna plans to unveil a working demonstration platform in Q4 this year. As part of this, Magna will tap NVIDIA Drive-OS for development, integration, validation and production workflows.
