Alibaba Cloud and Nvidia have announced a strategic collaboration to enhance autonomous driving technology and computing services for the automotive sector. This partnership marks the first time that Alibaba Cloud’s advanced AI models will be integrated into Nvidia’s Drive platform, widely used in China’s electric vehicle industry, according to a report published by South China Morning Post on Sept. 21.

During the Apsara Conference, the companies introduced a large multimodal model (LMM) solution developed jointly with Banma Network Technology, Alibaba's intelligent cockpit solution provider. Alibaba's Qwen language models, including Qwen2-7B and Qwen2-VL, will be embedded into Nvidia’s Drive AGX Orin platform, which powers autonomous driving in EVs from manufacturers such as Li Auto, Great Wall Motors, Zeekr and Xiaomi.

The collaboration promises to deliver smoother, more dynamic in-car experiences. The AI-powered system will allow for advanced voice assistants capable of multiturn conversations and proactive recommendations, enhancing driver and passenger interactions.

Despite restrictions on Nvidia selling its top-tier graphics processing units (GPUs) to China due to US export controls, the company continues to play a significant role in China’s automotive and AI markets. The two firms also plan to work on Nvidia’s upcoming Drive Thor platform, which will combine various AI-powered automotive capabilities.