Volkswagen and NVIDIA want to help humans and robots work together

After just confirming its plans to help Volvo create self-driving cars, NVIDIA has now revealed that it's also working with another leading car manufacturer. Announcing a partnership with Volkswagen, the tech company states its artificial intelligence and deep learning tech will be used to help VW expand its AI business beyond just autonomous vehicles.

While this collaboration may sound surprising, the move actually looks to help expand Volkswagen's existing AI-focused research division - The VW Data Lab. The two companies have suggested that this sharing of tech could be used to help the pair optimize traffic flow in cities and even to devise solutions that make human and robot collaboration easier.

In a statement, Volkswagen's CIO Dr. Martin Hofmann says that AI is "the key to the digital future of the Volkswagen Group" describing its collaboration with NVIDIA as "a major step" in expanding the company's proficiency in the field. This deal won't just benefit VW's Data Lab, however. The tech company and the car manufacturer have also announced a startup support program beginning this fall, where The Data Lab and NVIDIA will be assisting five small business who specialize in machine learning. The two companies are also offering to share their expertise with students too, launching a Summer of Code camp that will be kicking off shortly.

While NVIDIA is primarily known for manufacturing graphics cards, this is far from the company's first expansion into the motor industry. With the tech giant now powering cars made by Toyota, Volvo, and the VW-owned Audi, NVIDIA is quietly becoming one of the leading names in autonomous vehicle AI. Who knows, maybe one day we'll see AMD making the fighter jets of tomorrow.