Yamaha Motor Announces Collaboration with AI Computing Company NVIDIA　Accelerating Automation of Driverless Agricultural Vehicles and Low-speed Vehicles with AI

IWATA, September 13, 2018 - Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announced today that it has formed a collaboration to apply intelligent technology to products in research and development/R&D module groups with AI computing, NVIDIA (Headquarters: California, U.S.A.)

Through this collaboration, Yamaha Motor is adopting NVIDIA’s GPU computing system* , Jetson AGX Xavier. Jetson AGX Xavier, which is the world’s first computer created for AI, robotics and edge computing, will enable to automate a wide range of Yamaha’s products by making them more intelligent. Target products include unmanned ground vehicles, which support automation of agricultural processes such as fruit picking; low-speed vehicles based on golf carts, used for “last mile” transportation of people and logistics; and industrial robots and drones.

*GPU: A processor that computes the vast amounts of data required to render graphics. Due to its massive computing power, GPUs are being used generally for tasks that require prodigious amounts of computing, such as deep learning and scientific simulations. Increasingly, the GPU acts as the brain of computers, robots and self-driving cars that can perceive and understand the world.

*NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier: An energy-efficient module powered with a GPU, which can be deployed in a wide range of devices which require AI computing at the edge.

■ Product groups to which application of NVIDIA products and services is anticipated

1. UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles)
By promoting automation through applying intelligent technology to agricultural vehicles, Yamaha Motor aims to help address issues in the agricultural field such as the decreasing rural population, automation of agricultural work, and the promotion of precision agriculture.

2. Low-speed vehicles based on golf cars
Through the advance in autonomous driving technology and increased affinity for MaaS, Yamaha Motor aims to roll out new means of transport such as in depopulated mountainous regions, tourist spots, and urban areas.

3. Industrial robots/industrial drones/marine products/other product groups
Yamaha Motor will advance AI platform construction on a shared platform with these product groups, responding to societal needs through automation applying intelligent technology

■ Overview of NVIDIA

Established: 1993

Location of head office: Santa Clara, CA, USA

Representative: Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO

Number of employees: Approx. 12,000

Net sales: Approx. US$9.71 billion (fiscal year ending January 2018)