Nvidia pushes into robotics, AVs, supercomputers at CES

The news: Nvidia is pushing into robotics and technology for autonomous vehicles (AVs).

• The company introduced a new open-source platform for humanoid robot development at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show.
• It’s also lending its technology and models for use in self-driving cars, including through a new partnership with Uber.
• Nvidia announced a “desktop supercomputer” as well, which will launch in May.

Redefining its mold: Primarily a producer of hardware for other firms to develop AI models, Nvidia is now building its own AI models.

• The family of models, called Cosmos World Foundation Models (WFMs), can predict and generate physics-aware videos, create synthetic data, and debug models before deployment.
• The Cosmos models will be available under an open-source license for commercial use.

“[Cosmos’ openness] unblocks physical AI developers building robotics and AV technology and enables enterprises of all sizes to more quickly bring their physical AI applications to market,” Nvidia said.

Drive my car: Individual AV companies like Waymo and Cruise develop their own technology in-house, providing independence from software manufacturers. However, the lack of standardization for AV development requires automakers to create their software from zero.

Nvidia’s Drive Hyperion platform and DriveOS operating system could shorten development cycles and improve safety features in self-driving cars from partners such as Toyota and Aurora.

Compact supergenius: Nvidia also announced its Project Digits supercomputer at CES, which runs Nvidia’s entire AI stack from a compact device.

• At $3,000 per unit, the supercomputer is relatively affordable—costing less than an M4 Macbook Pro.
• “AI will be mainstream in every application for every industry … placing an AI supercomputer on the desks of every data scientist, AI researcher, and student empowers them to engage and shape the age of AI,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said.

Our take: This venture into robotics and AVs marks Nvidia's expansion from hardware provider to AI model creator.

Offering Cosmos under an open-source license could address a crucial challenge for AVs: standardization. This could streamline production and accelerate AV development, reduce the need for proprietary tech, and help smaller players compete in the market.

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