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Wall Street JournalNvidia Takes On Robotaxis With Chips, Software And Big Ambitions
Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) is intensifying its push into autonomous driving, signaling ambitions to play a central role in the robotaxi market and directly challenge Tesla Inc.’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) long-term autonomy strategy.
Nvidia Targets Level 4 Robotaxis by 2027
At CES 2026 on Monday, Nvidia said it is working with robotaxi operators to deploy fleets powered by its AI chips and Drive AV software as early as 2027. Xinzhou Wu, Nvidia’s vice president of automotive, said the company expects to enable “Level 4” robotaxis by that time, vehicles capable of operating without human intervention in defined areas.
While Nvidia has offered automotive solutions since 2015, the segment remains a relatively small part of its business, CNBC reported. Still, CEO Jensen Huang has identified robotics and self-driving technology as Nvidia’s next major growth engine after AI infrastructure.
Also Read: Nvidia Tops $4.5 Trillion as AI Boom Expands Beyond Data Centers Into Robots and Machines
‘ChatGPT Moment’ for Physical AI
To accelerate adoption, Nvidia is introducing new hardware and software aimed at simplifying autonomous system development. Its Drive AGX Thor automotive computer, priced at roughly $3,500 per chip, is designed to lower research costs and shorten development timelines for automakers.
The company also unveiled Alpamayo, an open-source family of Vision Language Action models that integrate perception, reasoning, and action into a single system.
Mobility leaders and industry experts, including Lucid Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID), JLR, Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) and Berkeley DeepDrive, are showing interest in Alpamayo to develop reasoning-based AV stacks that will enable level 4 autonomy.
Huang said the industry has reached what he described as the “ChatGPT moment for physical AI,” marking a turning point where machines can understand, reason, and act in real-world environments. He noted that robotaxis are among the earliest beneficiaries of this shift, as Nvidia’s Alpamayo platform enables autonomous vehicles to reason through rare edge cases, operate safely in complex settings, and explain their driving decisions, capabilities he framed as essential to building safe, scalable autonomy.
Pressure Builds on Tesla
Nvidia’s robotaxi strategy also targets fleet-based competitors such as Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Waymo. The company recently demonstrated its system in a 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA driving through San Francisco, currently classified by Nvidia as “Level 2 Plus Plus,” comparable to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving.
Nvidia aims to reach point-to-point self-driving for consumer vehicles by 2028. Meanwhile, Tesla faces mounting scrutiny. Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki said Tesla will not achieve Level 4 or Level 5 autonomy without addressing hardware limitations, not just software.
Tesla has also revised its Full Self-Driving disclosures, clarifying that the system does not provide autonomous capability and requires constant human supervision.
NVDA Price Action: Nvidia shares were up 0.49% at $189.04 during premarket trading on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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