‘Radical simplification’: GM’s Nvidia-based computing platform aims to reach Tesla level

• General Motors will start introducing more powerful Nvidia computers in its vehicles from 2028.
• The automaker is moving toward a centralized architecture that reduces the number of on-board computers and shortens cabling.
• GM will introduce these improvements to both all-electric and combustion engine models.

Update: This article contains new information on how GM’s centralized electrical system differs from a zonal architecture.

General Motors plans to build a new generation of vehicles that will look more like Teslas and Rivians and less like today’s Chevys and Cadillacs.

The automaker announced Wednesday that starting in 2028, its cars will include a high-performance centralized computer and next-generation electrical architecture, allowing them to become more autonomous over time and improve faster through wireless upgrades.

“Our system has advanced far beyond the zonal architecture that others have announced,” Dave Richardson, GM’s senior vice president of software and service engineering, told reporters during the GM Forward event in New York on Wednesday.

“We are centralizing core systems such as powertrain, body, lighting, cooling and chassis to enable broader software reuse throughout the vehicle. At the heart of this transformation is an internal design, liquid-cooled central computing unit that will enable faster development cycles, more efficient software updates and seamless scalability across every GM brand,” he added.

GM said the Cadillac Escalade IQ will be the first to receive the 2028 upgrade, featuring fewer on-board computers and modules to allow faster software updates and improve reliability. The update will allow GM vehicles to always be “connected, alert and available, with near-instant response to remote commands.”

The Escalade IQ will also be GM’s first vehicle to feature eyes-free driving (no longer hands-free on select highways), taking its already popular Super Cruise driver assistance system to the next level. The upgrade comes courtesy of a LIDAR sensor and Nvidia’s new AGX Drive Thor computing platform. And for the first time, GM said the Super Cruise will be able to go off-highway, cautiously expanding into more complex urban environments.

As GM moves deeper into autonomous driving, reliability and computing power will become increasingly critical. “It’s not often described as a robot, but it is, and when we build that intelligence into it, it has to continue to function flawlessly at high speeds,” GM product director Sterling Anderson told reporters.

The automaker said it is no stranger to rolling out software updates. About 4.5 million GM vehicles can already receive updates over the air thanks to the Vehicle Intelligence Platform (VIP), which was upgraded in 2022 to include infotainment and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in a single computer platform.

That was just the first step toward software-defined vehicles, the smartphones on wheels that have been talked about as a big game in the automotive industry for years. GM thinks it is now ready to go all out.

The Nvidia AGX Drive Thor will serve as the main computer on future GM vehicles. This will not only unify infotainment and ADAS functions, but also connect everything else, from drive and steering to braking and other safety systems, via an Ethernet backbone.

In theory, this means fewer wires connecting each system separately, saving weight and reducing complexity. It will also enable faster communication between the various functions of the vehicle. We’ve seen it from other automakers, too—Rivian said the zonal architecture helped save more than two miles of wiring on the upcoming R2, resulting in significant weight savings.

Update: GM said its new electrical system and computer differed from the zonal architecture being developed by competitors. “Separating the thinking part of the car from the drive system allows you to have a central place where you do all the processing for the vehicle,” Gary Cygan, director of platform development at General Motors, told InsideEVs.

Unlike Tesla or Rivian, which only produce a handful of electric-only models, GM is working to transform its portfolio of gasoline and electric models with a new architecture. The centralized computing platform helps the automaker issue advanced software upgrades for different powertrains, body types and small and large vehicles, Cygan said.

A traditional car can use more than 100 different electronic control units, each of which handles a separate task and does not communicate with the others. A centralized architecture simplifies the system to a smaller number of much more powerful and coordinated computers.

For GM vehicles, this overhaul will mean 10 times more software updates than current systems, real-time safety updates for things like Super Cruise, and a system that has room to keep growing and becoming more capable.

GM said this allows for “hardware freedom” and “radical simplification,” meaning that certain components remain isolated from the software layer and can be upgraded without rewriting code, such as brake actuators, cameras, in-vehicle screens and more.

Nvidia says its Drive AGX Thor centralized AI computer can perform up to 1,000 trillion operations per second (TOPS), which would allow vehicles to continuously collect data and make real-time self-driving decisions on the road.

However, as we’ve seen with Tesla, Volkswagen, and even the current generation of GM vehicles, SDVs are anything but easy. Automakers’ initial efforts were marred by bugs and glitches, including sudden power outages, digital keys not working, and leaving drivers on edge.

Nevertheless, this is the path that almost the entire automotive industry is taking. Simpler and more powerful computers are also what is needed to provide more autonomous vehicles.

“Our architecture, our batteries, electrical systems, computing and vehicle architectures that bring our cars to life and enable what we can do in software,” Anderson said. “Then comes the intelligence layer. This lies largely in the software. This is where we enable our vehicles to perceive their environment, understand their occupants and adapt intelligently to all circumstances.”

And it’s not just limited to the expensive Escalade. GM said every future model will be built on the same advanced platform.

More news from Patrick George.

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