Is the era of popularization of "unmanned driving technology" coming? NVIDIA is fully promoting, and both Uber and Lyft have surged

# Long Yue

Source: WallStreetCN

Nvidia is accelerating the commercialization of autonomous driving. It announced an expanded partnership with Uber and other companies, planning to launch Robotaxi services in multiple cities starting in 2027, driving Uber’s stock up more than 5%. At the core is the open-sourced Alpamayo 1, the world’s first reasoning VLA model, which gives vehicles human-like “thinking” capabilities to handle complex scenarios. The first cars equipped with this technology are expected to hit the roads in the U.S. in the first quarter.

Nvidia is stepping up its presence in autonomous driving by expanding cooperation with ride-hailing giants such as Uber and Lyft to promote the commercial launch of robotaxis.

At the recent GTC Conference, Nvidia announced plans to expand partnerships with Uber, Lyft and other firms. Boosted by the news, Uber’s stock surged more than 5% in recent trading, while Lyft’s rose about 3%. Nvidia’s stock, after gaining 1.6% on Monday, edged down about 0.4% in recent sessions.

Nvidia and Uber plan to launch self-driving cars powered by Nvidia’s software in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the first half of 2027, and expand the service to dozens of cities by the end of 2028.

In addition, Nvidia unveiled new or expanded collaborations with automakers including Hyundai, BYD, Geely, Isuzu and Nissan, whose shares also rose on their local stock exchanges.

## Nvidia’s “ChatGPT Moment” for Physical AI

Nvidia’s core weapon in autonomous driving is Alpamayo 1, its newly open-sourced reasoning VLA (Vision-Language-Action) model. The model is designed to enable vehicles to “think” through solutions in unexpected situations.

Jensen Huang, CEO of the company, stated:

“The ChatGPT moment for physical AI has arrived — machines begin to understand, reason and act in the real world. Robotaxis are among the first beneficiaries. Alpamayo brings reasoning capabilities to self-driving cars, allowing them to think through rare scenarios, drive safely in complex environments, and explain their driving decisions — this is the foundation of safe and scalable autonomous driving.”

The first vehicles featuring Nvidia’s technology are expected to launch in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year, followed by Europe in the second quarter and Asia in the second half of the year.

## Solving the “Long-Tail” Challenge in Autonomous Driving

Unlike traditional models that directly map visual inputs to actions, the reasoning VLA model can break down complex driving tasks into manageable subproblems and present its reasoning process in an interpretable form.

For example, when approaching an intersection, the system thinks like a human: “I see a stop sign, a car coming from the left, and a pedestrian crossing the street. I should slow down, come to a full stop, wait for the pedestrian to cross, and proceed when safe.” This ability is critical for solving the rare and unpredictable “long-tail” scenarios in autonomous driving.

Sarfraz Maredia, Global Head of Autonomous Mobility and Delivery at Uber, said: “Handling long-tail and unpredictable driving scenarios is one of the defining challenges of autonomous driving. Alpamayo creates exciting new opportunities for the industry.”

Beyond autonomous driving, Nvidia is also expanding into broader physical AI fields. The company has launched multiple open-source models and tools, including the Nemotron family for AI agents, the Cosmos platform for physical AI, Isaac GR00T for robotics, and Clara for biomedicine.

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