Graphics chipset designer Nvidia has launched the Drive PX and Drive CX products, its first foray into the world of production road vehicles.

Based on architecture that can also be found in modern supercomputers, each of Nvidia’s new products houses all the hardware that a vehicle manufacturer might need to get its in-car software running.

While there are many companies already developing hardware for cars, Nvidia is trying to stand out from the crowd by drawing on its background in personal computing graphics to develop computer vision and deep learning for the road.

Drive PX

Using Nvidia’s new Tegra X1 chip, which is said to be on a par with the Apple A8 found in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, there is a hope that manufacturers will be better equipped to deliver driverless experiences.

The chip has been quoted as delivering more than a teraflop of processing performance and the Drive PX has two X1s. With the both chips in two, and the PX’s inputs for 12 high-resolution cameras, there is the potential to process 1.3 gigapixels every second.

Much like BMW’s smartwatch-enabled system, Nvidia has developed a feature it is calling Auto-Valet where a car can find a free parking space, drive to its location and park up without any human input.

Drive CX

The Drive CX, aimed at the card head unit market, bundles hardware and software that will offer vehicle manufacturers navigation, infotainment, digital instrument clusters and driver monitoring features.

Using the X1 or Nvidia’s older K1 processor is said to offer more than ten times the display power of current road cars and is capable of powering 16.8 million pixels on a number of different displays.

Nividia is not developing the software alone, though, with the company stating that the Drive PX and CX will include software application modules from third-party providers when each product becomes available in the second quarter of 2015.