Apple's self-driving car project may be going through an uncertain period right now, but it hasn't put other firms off joining the autonomous vehicle bandwagon. The latest being GPU maker Nvidia, which has just been added to the list of companies that can test driverless cars on the roads of California.
Nvidia joins the like of Google, Tesla, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, and GM in testing self-driving cars on the Golden State's public roads. The company unveiled its Drive PX 2 Platform at CES this year, which is designed to facilitate autonomous driving. The processing board features two ARM-based Tegra SOCs and two Pascal GPUs, making it the most powerful engine in the world to incorporate artificial intelligence into self-driving car systems, according to the firm
In September, Nvidia announced it was working with Chinese search giant Baidu to build a platform that will allow the "Google of China" to get a self-driving taxi fleet on the road. The pair also plan on offering the system to car manufacturers, who could add it to their own autonomous vehicle tech.
The Verge reports that Nvidia was quick to push its self-driving cars onto the road, once the DMV approved the permit. A reader sent in photos of an Nvidia-branded car performing preliminary test drives in the Bay area.
California may be a hotbed of autonomous vehicle testing, but it appears that Michigan wants in on the action. The state signed a package of bills on Friday which allows, among other things, the testing of self-driving cars without brake pedals and steering wheels - something that California doesn't currently permit.