back to article UNREAL, dude: Nvidia uncloaks Tegra K1 graphics monster for your mobile ... and CAR

Nvidia has unveiled two versions of a new Tegra mobile processor aimed at both radically improving graphics performance of mobile gaming and putting "a supercomputer in your car," in the words of company co-founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. The new chip, dubbed the Tegra K1, has "the heart of GeForce and the soul of Tesla," …

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  1. JDX Gold badge

    graphics capabilities needed to customize dashboard displays

    With that level of GPU power we're not talking pretty displays or fancy HUDs - those could be done on a 10-year-old GPU. We're talking the ability to render to the inside of your windscreen a real-time view of what's outside, though it seems a silly thing to do!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: graphics capabilities needed to customize dashboard displays

      > We're talking the ability to render to the inside of your windscreen a real-time view of what's outside, though it seems a silly thing to do!

      Full synthetic vision? Why does that seem silly?

      If you only render what you can see through the window then yeah, it's dumb. But if you start post-processing, add a HUD, add a couple of virtual mirrors then you can start to see the utility. The input doesn't have to be a normal camera either, it could be low light or IR, or some sort of radar.

      If it can be made reliable and safe (and actually equal the human eye's performance) then the possibilities are endless.

      1. James 36

        Re: graphics capabilities needed to customize dashboard displays

        Infra red HUD available in CAdillacs in 2000 and 2001,

        http://www.vxm.com/Impact.cadillac.nitevision.html

        I remember it being reviewed by Top Gear

        1. Vociferous

          Re: graphics capabilities needed to customize dashboard displays

          > Infra red HUD

          One of the two useful things I'd want from Google Glass.

        2. P. Lee

          Re: graphics capabilities needed to customize dashboard displays

          The humble Rover Metro would also like to dispute some things.

    2. Vociferous

      Re: graphics capabilities needed to customize dashboard displays

      192 CUDA cores is only impressive for a mobile device. nVidias own GTX 780 Ti has 2880 CUDA cores. All the talk of "supercomputing" and references to Tesla are pure marketing hype.

      The thing is that the GTX 780 Ti draws 250 watts of power, which you're not going to sustain in a slab, while the Tegra K1 draws 5 watts of power and is destined to be in many a portable device, and possibly some car touch screens.

    3. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: graphics capabilities needed to customize dashboard displays

      It can do real-time FEA modelling of the deformation of your car as it hits the one in front - because you were playing with all the toys instead of watching where you are driving.

  2. lawndart

    says:

    "your cars are going to be able to do things that most people won't be able to understand".

    That won't be difficult. Never mind the car - I'm capable of doing things that most people don't seem to understand; e.g. indicating at roundabouts.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: says:

      It's no great advert, is it? An ordinary Windows PC can do things that most people don't understand.

      In fact, ask people how a bicycle steers. They can do it, but most people don't actually know what it is they do. What actually happens is quite counter-intuitive.

      I'm guessing that they have their eye on self-driving cars, because all that graphics processing will be needed to interpret what comes in from the cameras and the radar. That's another thing where everybody understands what is being achieved in principle, but wouldn't know where to start in practice.

      1. Vociferous

        Re: says:

        > An ordinary Windows PC can do things that most people don't understand.

        Like the euphemistically named "simple file sharing".

  3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Trollface

    Echelon Security in San Jose, California, on Tuesday, December 31, 2013, confirmed for Monterey County Herald reporter Phillip Molnar that Echelon security guards were hired on Saturday, December 28, 2013, to protect the barley pattern in the field after it first appeared that morning. Chualar residents told field researchers Jeff Krause and David Mendez that dogs barked all night before the pattern appeared and later that people with ropes were measuring in the pattern on Sunday, December 29, 2013.

    Yes this is a mysterious pattern and anyone who hasn't had his head buried in esoterics during the last ten years will immediately recognize an IC.

    If E. T. non-terrestrial, we might be meant to see this formation as a powerful demonstration of the entity’s ability to investigate our human technology and also to harvest it regardless of our wishes. ... The use of Braille is another aspect of this, but I have no explanation for the repeated use of numerals 192. They may mean something to the module designer as a registration number or perhaps to NASA as an identification to a surveillance satellite camera. We will probably never know the full story here - but it bothers someone!

    HUH! Yeah. They are warning us about TESLA 666, using dark tech from serbiaǹ engineers with a bent for showmanism.

    How does one perform such nice patterning of wheat fields though?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Destroy All Monsters

      Years ago a salesman tried to sell me a petrol-driven blower. He mentioned in passing that he had just sold one to members of a certain army regiment stationed in Wiltshire, in support of an extracurricular activity. It seems that the essential tools for crop circles are night vision goggles, a measuring tape, poles, flat wooden boards with handles, a blower, and a knowledge of trigonometry. Not getting caught is the secret of a high score.

      It's little things like this that, despite everything, makes me think this country will continue to muddle through.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @Destroy All Monsters

        Ha!

        (Sorry completely OT)

        I live in a small village in surrey and we get these so-called ex-cons coming round every week or so trying to sell shite from their bags. They look mean enough to be threatening and always introduce themselves polity as ex-cons trying to go straight but they are selling tat from a duffle bag.

        I tried on a couple of occasions to find something I wanted; overpriced sponges, a pair of scissors that would "cut a penny in half" (it couldn't) - when the next vagabond came knocking I told him straight - " You're selling shite and though I appreciate you are trying, the contents of your bag is crap and over priced.". he left.

        23:30 that night, knock at the door, same bloke (scared , me a little bit I don't mind admitting!) - " you're right mate, the bag was full of shite. I noticed your drive was in a right state with leaves n crap. Wanna buy this petrol-driven blower? £20 ?"

        Bargain. Cheers.

        (It still had a note on it saying thanks from the last time I borrowed it from next door. village life eh?)

  4. FartingHippo
    Alien

    Crop Circle

    Fair play on the circle. An awful lot of thought went into the design, and the execution was pretty damned slick too.

  5. Lottie

    ooh!

    This is either going to be something awesome -like full on AR immersive sat nav with the arrows appearing on the windscreen and suchlike- or the most over specc'd media control hub in the world.

    The big question is: Can it play (oil) Crysis?

    1. dotdavid

      Re: ooh!

      I'll be used to render adverts onto passing buildings - mark my words ;-)

      1. keith_w

        Re: ooh!

        You will? Well, I suppose it's a job. Hopefully it pays well, especially considering how cold it is outside.

        1. dotdavid

          Re: ooh!

          D'oh!

          I think my secret identity as an Nvidia CUDA core has been revealed.

  6. Steve Todd

    5W TDP for a mobile processor?

    Not an issue for car manufacturers, but phone and tablet companies are going to be thinking twice.

    1. annodomini2

      Re: 5W TDP for a mobile processor?

      Snapdragon 800 is 5W TDP.

  7. James Hughes 1

    192 cores...

    Bit of a cheat though, given most mobile GPU's don't advertise the total number of cores they have. For example, the VC4 in the Raspberry Pi, a >5 year old design, has 18 cores (IIRC), two of which are general purpose 16 way vector processors. It also has shite load of other HW blocks for dedicated purposes (camera, composition, codecs etc). But, to the general public, it's a single core Arm with a single 'GPU'.

    Core count is rather an ineffective way of proclaiming performance.

  8. Longrod_von_Hugendong
    Devil

    I completely agree with this statement...

    'your cars are going to be able to do things that most people won't be able to understand'

    Yes, like indicate, park within the lines on a carpark and not drive so close they are in my boot. Mind you, these seem to be a major problem with BMW and Audi's so they should look to sell to that market first.

    1. TitterYeNot

      Re: I completely agree with this statement...

      Don't be silly, BMW and Audi don't fit their cars with indicators, surely...

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: I completely agree with this statement...

        Or brake lights

  9. John 110

    Wait...that picture...

    This chip design is obviously based on Level 5 of that Amstrad CPC classic, "Oh Mummy"

    1. Craigie

      Re: Wait...that picture...

      I thought it was a particularly easy Zelda level.

      Oh well, proof enough that it does games eh?

  10. Jamie Jones Silver badge
    Facepalm

    tin-foil hat quackery

    Ha ha, now knowing who created the crop circle, reading through the tenuous theories and conclusions on the linked article shows how easy it is for crackpots to find coincidental patterns, and make them appear relevant.

    It's like reading an article from 'The Onion'!

  11. Esskay

    I can see it being useful for video camera side mirrors (something every manufacturer would want to have legislated as it cuts drag by something like 15%) and for augmented reality GPS hud - instead of looking at a screen you can get an arrow or highlighting over the exact exit or turn you're supposed to take as it approaches... definitely some great applications in cars in the future.

    It's interesting that computing power in cars, whilst it has increased, hasn't seen the increase in capabilities or features that we've seen in, say mobile devices or home PCs. Hopefully that'll start to change as people see the benefits of computerised cars (as long as they can be built reliably/ with redundancy of necessary safety parts).

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