(Yicai) April 24 -- Chery Automobile has teamed up with Nvidia to accelerate its intelligent transformation by jointly developing physical artificial intelligence, becoming the second Chinese carmaker to start such a tie-up with the US chip giant in about a month.

Chery Auto and Nvidia will collaborate in three major areas: assisted driving, cabin AI, and robotics, the Anhui-based automaker announced yesterday. The alliance will use the US firm's autonomous driving reference platform Drive Hyperion to develop Level-3 and -4 smart cars for the Chinese market, it noted.

In addition, Chery Auto will develop a next-generation smart experience based on the intelligent vehicle solution Nvidia Drive, including enhancing cabin capabilities through generative AI tech, it said. It will also leverage Nvidia's embedded AI computing platform Jetson, open robotic simulation framework Isaac Sim, and open humanoid robot development platform Isaac GR00T to explore cutting-edge areas such as embodied intelligence, it pointed out.

Intelligence is the core engine of Chery Auto's global strategy, Chairman Yin Tongyue said at a signing ceremony. The alliance with Nvidia is a crucial step to integrate top international tech resources and accelerate the carmaker's advancement towards becoming a global high-tech ecosystem group, he added.

Chinese vehicle manufacturers are accelerating their cross-industry efforts into the AI sector. Last month, Hangzhou-based Geely Automobile Holdings announced a physical, enterprise, and industrial AI alliance with Nvidia at the California-based firm's Nvidia GTC 2026 conference.

Electric vehicle startups are also ramping up their investments in AI. Xpeng said its annual physical AI research and development spending will top CNY7 billion (USD1 billion) last month, aiming to advance the mass production of Robotaxis, humanoid robots, and flying cars, while Li Auto revealed that 50 percent of its planned CNY12 billion (USD1.8 billion) R&D investment for 2026 will be allocated to AI.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev