# Upset by high prices, GM’s Cruise develops its own chips for self-driving cars Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2022-09-14 Category: NEWS Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/news Meta Title: Cruise Custom Chips for Self-Driving Cars by 2025 Meta Description: Learn how Cruise aims to cut costs and boost production with their own chips, following Tesla's lead. Explore the details here. URL: https://financedigest.com/upset-by-high-prices-gms-cruise-develops-its-own-chips-for-self-driving-carshtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/2022-09-14t024501z1lynxmpei8d029rtroptp4gm-cruise-chips-1736815218236-compressed.jpg) By Jane Lanhee Lee and Hyunjoo Jin SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – General Motors’ autonomous driving unit Cruise has developed its own chips for self-driving cars to be deployed by 2025, as they aim to bring down costs and scale up volume, executives said Tuesday. Cruise is taking a page out of Tesla’s playbook, switching from Nvidia Corp’s products to customized chips to power their vehicles. Two years ago, we were paying a lot of money for a GPU from a famous vendor,” Carl Jenkins, head of Cruise hardware, told [Reuters in an apparent reference](https://www.financedigest.com/thomson-reuters-announces-suite-of-reference-data-capabilities-to-help-financial-industry-meet-mifid-ii-transparency-and-reporting-requirements.html "Thomson Reuters Announces Suite of Reference Data Capabilities to Help Financial Industry Meet MiFID II Transparency and Reporting Requirements") to Nvidia, a leading maker of graphics processing units, or GPUs. “There is no negotiation because we’re tiny volume. We couldn’t negotiate at all. So that’s why I said, okay, then we have to take [control of our own destiny,”](https://www.financedigest.com/giving-women-the-power-to-make-money-and-take-control-of-their-destiny.html "Giving women the power to make money and take control of their destiny") he said during a tour of the Cruise R&D workshop in San Francisco. Cruise executives this week for the first [time have given details about its custom](https://www.financedigest.com/uk-and-eu-reach-post-brexit-customs-deal-for-n-ireland-the-times.html "UK and EU reach post-Brexit customs deal for N.Ireland-The Times") chips that will power its Origin vehicle with no pedals or steering wheel. Jenkins said in-house [chip development](https://www.financedigest.com/nintendo-says-chip-shortage-hitting-hardware-development.html "Nintendo says chip shortage hitting hardware development") required investments, but this would be recouped by scaling up production of cars which use multiple chips. He declined to say how much the company was [investing on the project](https://www.financedigest.com/investing-trends-and-projections-for-2023.html "Investing Trends and Projections for 2023"). Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said on Monday the custom chips would help the Origin “hit that sweet spot from a cost perspective” in 2025 and personal [ownership of autonomous vehicles](https://www.financedigest.com/sainsburys-pays-524-million-for-full-ownership-of-store-investment-vehicles.html "Sainsbury’s pays 4 million for full ownership of store investment vehicles") would be viable from then on. That follows comments by GM CEO Mary Barra earlier this year that they would develop a “personal [autonomous vehicle”](https://www.financedigest.com/autonomous-vehicles-market-emerging-growth-analysis-future-demand-and-business-opportunities-2026.html "Autonomous Vehicles Market Emerging Growth Analysis, Future Demand and Business Opportunities 2026") by mid-decade. Cruise had developed four in-house chips so far – a computing chip called Horta, the main brains of the car, Dune which [processes data](https://www.financedigest.com/crowdsourcing-of-data-to-drive-the-high-throughput-process-development-market.html "Crowdsourcing of data to drive the High Throughput Process Development Market") from the sensors, a chip for the radar, and one that it would announce later, Jenkins said. The sensors and [computing chips](https://www.financedigest.com/computer-chip-giant-asml-places-big-bets-on-a-tiny-future.html "Computer chip giant ASML places big bets on a tiny future") would also reduce power consumption, helping to increase driving range. Gaurav Gupta, a chip analyst at Gartner, said automakers were increasingly trying to [design chips](https://www.financedigest.com/nvidia-shows-new-research-on-using-ai-to-improve-chip-designs.html "Nvidia shows new research on using AI to improve chip designs") and systems in-house to have greater control over product development and supply chains. “Will they be successful or not is a different question as it isn’t easy,” he said. Ann Gui, Cruise’s silicon lead, said the Horta chip was based on an ARM processor as that was what was available when chip [development started two years](https://www.financedigest.com/the-next-upcoming-years-to-see-the-dental-lasers-market-develop-on-an-organic-note.html "The Next Upcoming Years To See The Dental Lasers Market Develop On An Organic Note") ago. But we are [closely looking at RISC-V because they’re open](https://www.financedigest.com/andalucian-open-returns-to-costa-del-golf-as-golfers-go-in-search-of-the-perfect-pad-close-to-the-fairway.html "Andalucian Open returns to ‘Costa del Golf’ as golfers go in search of the perfect pad close to the fairway") source and it has a lot of benefits,” she said. [ARM and RISC-V are rival instruction set](https://www.financedigest.com/italys-brembo-sets-up-venture-capital-arm-to-invest-in-tech-startups.html "Italy’s Brembo sets up venture capital arm to invest in tech startups") architectures, a base for building chips that defines what kind of software can run on the chips. Gui said the [carmaker](https://www.financedigest.com/u-s-considers-crackdown-on-memory-chip-makers-in-china.html "U.S. considers crackdown on memory chip makers in China") was working with an unidentified chip maker in Asia to produce its custom chips at scale. (Reporting by Jane Lee and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Stephen Coates) --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---