Volvo has announced that its forthcoming ES90 midsized luxury sedan will be equipped with a dual Nvidia Drive AGX Orin configuration, making it the most powerful car the company has ever created in terms of core computing capacity. This significant upgrade is part of Volvo's Superset tech stack, which will underpin all of its next-generation vehicles going forward.
The Nvidia Drive AGX Orin system-on-a-chip will enable the ES90 to perform core functions at incredibly fast speeds, thanks to its ability to perform 508 trillion operations per second (TOPS). This processing power will be instrumental in managing advanced safety features, car sensors, and efficient battery management. The Orin system represents an eightfold improvement in processing speeds over Nvidia's previous Xavier computer, which was announced in 2018 as part of a partnership between Volvo and Nvidia on in-car hardware.
The ES90 will be built on Volvo's SPA2 architecture and will be the second vehicle, after the EX90, to be based on the Superset tech stack. Superset is a modular engineering platform designed to make safer cars more efficiently and improve them over time through over-the-air software updates. This approach is reminiscent of Tesla's pioneering efforts in introducing connected vehicles with updateable software that can improve over time.
Volvo envisions a future where features such as driver assist technology and battery range can be improved over time thanks to this new tech stack. The company believes that improvements made to the EX90 will be translatable to the ES90, and vice versa. According to Anders Bell, Volvo's chief engineering and technology officer, "The Volvo ES90 is one of the most technically advanced cars on the market today and is designed to be improved further with time. Built on our state-of-the-art Superset tech stack, the ES90 puts safety at the forefront."
The ES90's advanced computing capabilities will be instrumental in supporting Volvo's ambitions for enhanced safety features and autonomous driving capabilities. As the automotive industry continues to shift towards electric and connected vehicles, Volvo's Superset tech stack and Nvidia's Drive AGX Orin system are poised to play a significant role in shaping the future of transportation.
With the ES90, Volvo is taking a significant step towards realizing its vision of creating safer, more efficient, and more advanced vehicles. As the company continues to push the boundaries of automotive innovation, it will be interesting to see how the ES90's advanced computing capabilities are leveraged to improve the driving experience and redefine the standards of the industry.