Tesla and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are reportedly working together to develop an AI chip for self-driving cars.
The first samples of the AI chip processor have been received by Tesla and are now undergoing tests by the electric car making company, according to a source from CNBC.
Tesla is said to be developing the AI chip processor on top of AMD technology, hoping to create a power-efficient multi-purpose chip to bring Tesla’s vision of a fully autonomous driving vehicle into reality.
Since the appointment of Jim Keller, head of Autopilot hardware and software, Tesla’s project has thrived and the company hopes to make a big gain in the autonomous vehicle market as he leads the AI chip development.
Over 50 workers are developing the project under the leadership of Keller, including Bill McGee who is Principal Hardware Engineer at AMD and Dan Bailey, the system circuit design leader according to CNBC.
Tesla’s aim is to develop a fully-fledged AI chip that is able to take on all driving tasks in order to fuel a fleet of fully self-driving cars, which CEO Elon Musk claimed would be taking on the roads by 2019.
After hiring Andrej Karpathy as its new head of AI and Autopilot Vision, earlier this year, car maker Tesla hopes to make a mark in the autonomous vehicle market and compete with the likes of Google and Samsung.
The speculation comes days after Intel’s announcement that it will be working in partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo on its own self-driving car project.
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Vehicles by Tesla currently operate using Nvidia graphics processing units self-driving software after parting ways with Mobileye, which used to provide the car company with AI Chip processors, before the two companies went their separate ways following an accident involving a Mobileye-powered Tesla.
Following reports, AMD’s shares have climbed 6.40% to $14.62 although Tesla’s have remained stable.
