MediaTek and NVIDIA have officially announced a new partnership during the Computex 2023 trade show in Taiwan. While this reveal confirmed a recent rumour by DigiTimes, not all of the details reported by the publication were accurate. Rather than mobile or laptop industries, the newly inked collaboration between the two tech giants is revealed to focus on showcasing their collective strengths in the automotive scene.
During the event, MediaTek has unveiled its first-ever chipset for cars, the Dimensity Auto, which features various wireless connectivity functions including for 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and satellite connections. All of which are technology that are carried over from its mobile division, while the chip’s Cockpit system will use the company’s current experience from its televisions, phone displays, and image signal processors used for phone cameras. The aforementioned system powers a vehicle’s smart multi-displays, high-dynamic cameras and audio processing, giving both drivers and passengers seamless interaction with its cockpit and onboard infotainment.
NVIDIA, on the other hand, will supply MediaTek’s automotive chip with its core expertise in AI, cloud, graphics technology and software ecosystem, as well as its advanced driver assistance systems. These are handled by the company’s Drive OS software, while powering the graphics acceleration is an integrated GPU chiplet.
It’s also worth mentioning that NVIDIA is no stranger to the automotive scene, as carmakers have previously relied on its technology to power their vehicle’s infotainment systems, namely the graphical user interfaces and touchscreens. Meanwhile, its Drive OS platform is already featured in numerous car models from brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, BYD and many others.
Speaking of which, neither company has shared which car manufacturers they are working with yet. Nevertheless, MediaTek says production of the Dimensity Auto SoC is expected to begin in 2026, with aims to supply 2027 model-year cars. The company added that the chip is intended to be available to car manufacturers from around the world.
