Yahoo Autos Hyundai, Polestar to Add Nvidia Cloud-Based Gaming to Future Vehicles
Connected cars have gotten reliable enough not just for safety features but also for shooting sprites on a screen. At CES this week, Nvidia announced it will bring its GeForce Now cloud-based gaming service to vehicles from the Hyundai Motor Group, Polestar, and BYD.
Playing games on your car's screen while it charges is one use case, and if you have a strong enough 4G or 5G connection, passengers can also play on the go.
In a separate announcement, Nvidia said it will work with Foxconn to manufacture new electronic control units for upcoming automated electric-vehicle platforms.
Video games in cars are nothing new, but Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud-based gaming service hasn't yet made the jump to vehicles. That's about to change after Nvidia announced at CES that three automakers have now agreed to stream GeForce Now games in "select vehicle models."
Nvidia describes GeForce Now as a low-latency streaming service that "instantly transforms nearly any laptop, desktop, Mac, SHIELD TV, Android device, iPhone, or iPad into the PC gaming rig you've always dreamed of." The tech company can now add select Polestar, BYD and Hyundai/Kia/Genesis vehicles to its list of supposedly dreamy PC gaming set-ups.
GeForce users can play over 1,000 paid and free-to-play games, including popular favorites Fortnite and Destiny 2, from online stores like Steam and Epic Games Store. GeForce Now is available in North America and Europe from Nvidia and GeForce Now Alliance partners in other areas of the world.
"We've done a lot of optimization to enable it to run on all different devices, whether it's a laptop or a phone or a tablet, a smart TV, and now cars," Nvidia's vice president of automotive, Danny Shapiro, said during a briefing with reporters. "The tuning that has to happen is to enable what we call the shortest amount of time from click to photon."
"Click to photon" describes the time it takes between when a player pushes a button, sending a signal up to the cloud and back down to cause a reaction on the screen, Shapiro said. When in an electric vehicle that's sitting somewhere as it charges, a strong Wi-Fi signal should be enough for the service to work well, he said, but cars are notorious for not staying in one place all the time.
"On the road, you need a reliable 4G or 5G connection," he said. "So it really depends on the strength of your network. We're doing a lot of tuning and optimizing with our automotive partners to basically have a seamless experience in the car integrating GeForce Now into the infotainment system."
Other automakers have introduced video gaming to their vehicles with different levels of success. A year ago, both Tesla and Mercedes both had to rethink how their screens worked for passengers who wanted to play games while in motion. Last month, Tesla updated its in-car gaming service to include Steam, while BMW just announced that it will bring casual games to its cars through AirConsole in 2023. BMW's service requires a smartphone to serve as a game controller.
Nvidia has partnerships with many automakers, so it's not a surprise that the three OEMs that will bring GeForce Now to their vehicles first already have Nvidia components in some of their cars. Hyundai Motor Group and Polestar use Nvidia Drive technology in their vehicles, while BYD is developing new EVs on the Nvidia Drive platform.
Nvidia also announced a new strategic partnership at CES, this one with supplier and automotive manufacturer Foxconn. The two companies said they would build automated electric vehicle platforms, with Foxconn producing new electronic control units based on the latest Nvidia Drive Orin technology.
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