(Yicai) March 19 -- American chip giant Nvidia is gaining Chinese automakers' favor as three more firms, namely BYD, GAC Aion, and XPeng, are expected to equip their new models with the Nvidia Drive Thor centralized car computer.

So far five Chinese automakers have confirmed that they will use the in-vehicle computing platform which is expected to enter mass production next year, Yicai learned during the California-headquartered company's ongoing artificial intelligence conference. Drive Thor is an AI brain that can deliver autonomous driving and parking capabilities, as well as driver and passenger monitoring.

More specifically, Shenzhen-based BYD, the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles, will build its next-generation EV fleet on Drive Thor, and use the American company's AI infrastructure for cloud-based development.

Hyper, an electric luxury brand owned by GAC Aion, and Xpeng will also take advantage of the platform that is architected for generative AI applications, Nvidia said. Hyper will start producing its newest model in 2025 with level-4 driving capabilities, it added.

Before this, Nvidia announced during the CES in Las Vegas in January that Chinese startups Li Auto and Zeekr, a luxury EV marque of Geely Auto, would adopt Drive Thor. Moreover, autonomous driving startup WeRide will also use this chip to develop L4 driving solutions.

Several Chinese EV makers such as Nio, Li Auto, and Xpeng already use Nvidia's Drive Orin system-on-a-chip to power their intelligent driving systems.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine