Ansys, a simulation software company based in Pittsburgh, is partnering with Nvidia to introduce advanced sensors for self-driving cars and other autonomous vehicles. This collaboration involves the integration of Ansys AVxcelerate Sensors within Nvidia’s powerful autonomous vehicle simulator called Drive Sim, powered by Nvidia’s Omniverse. The primary objective is to enhance the development and validation of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and AV perception systems through high-fidelity sensor simulations.
Improved Sensor Simulation for Safer Autonomous Vehicles
The incorporation of Ansys AVxcelerate Sensors into Nvidia Drive Sim provides car makers with highly accurate sensor simulation outputs. These outputs are vital for training and validating perception ADAS/AV systems, ensuring that autonomous vehicles can navigate roadways safely and reliably, even in critical edge cases. By leveraging Ansys’ physics solvers for various sensors like cameras, lidars, radars, and thermal cameras, in combination with Nvidia Drive Sim’s realistic and scalable 3D environments, the collaboration bridges the gap between reality and simulation.
“Integrating Ansys AVxcelerate Sensors simulation with Drive Sim offers developers greater flexibility to develop, test, and validate their autonomous vehicle software,” said Zvi Greenstein, vice president of autonomous vehicle infrastructure at Nvidia.
Engineers working on AV technology face the immense challenge of ensuring the safety and reliability of sensor suites and software in real-world driving scenarios. The Ansys and Nvidia partnership tackles this challenge head-on by providing tools and environments that enable developers to iterate and validate their software more effectively. This integration of simulation technology with real-world data empowers AI to make intelligent and safe decisions.
Open Ecosystem Approach: Nvidia’s Omniverse
Nvidia emphasizes an open ecosystem approach to collaboration. The use of Nvidia’s Omniverse, which is a metaverse for engineers, allows users to develop 3D workflows based on OpenUSD. This flexible and modular framework enables the creation of scalable simulations and serves as a data factory for AI model training. Developers can leverage Omniverse to build custom synthetic data generation pipelines and generate annotated data to train computer vision models used in autonomous vehicles.
“Perception is crucial for AV systems, and it requires validation through real-world data for the AI to make smart, safe decisions,” said Walt Hearn, senior vice president of worldwide sales and customer excellence at Ansys.
Ansys has been a trusted provider of simulation software for over 50 years. Their software has helped companies bridge the gap between design and reality in fields ranging from sustainable transportation to life-saving medical devices. By collaborating with Nvidia, they are working towards accelerating the development of AV technology and ensuring autonomous vehicles meet the highest standards of safety and reliability.
