Nvidia’s Cosmos: A New Software Platform for AI-Powered Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles
At the opening keynote of CES 2025, Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang unveiled "Cosmos," a set of AI technologies that forms a new software platform. Cosmos includes "state-of-the-art generative world foundation models," as Huang called them.
Filling the Gap in Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles Training Data
Cosmos taps generative AI to fill the biggest gap that’s keeping robots from becoming more useful: training data. As Huang says, "In order to train a robot, you need a lot of data." This technology has the potential to enable robotics and autonomous vehicle makers to make important leaps forward in the years ahead.
Award-Winning Technology
For that reason, ZDNET and the rest of the CNET Group awarded Nvidia Cosmos two official Best of CES awards for 2025. You can see all 12 of the Best of CES winners selected by the CNET Group (ZDNET, CNET, PCMag, Mashable, and Lifehacker) in partnership with the organization that runs CES.
How Cosmos Works
Cosmos works in conjunction with Nvidia’s physics simulation tool, Omniverse. Omniverse generates simulations, and Cosmos then turns them into photo-realistic video imagery to train robots and automobiles. "Take thousands of drives and turn them into billions of miles" is how Huang characterized the interplay between Omniverse and Cosmos.
Cosmos and Omniverse in Action
Huang was surrounded onstage by a number of existing models of general-purpose humanoid robots. He called Cosmos "the world’s first world foundation model," noting it is trained on 20 million hours of video. "It’s really about teaching the AI to understand the physical world."
Impact on Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles
Huang compared the Cosmos project to Meta Platforms’s wildly popular Llama large language model, saying, "We really hope it will do for the world of robotics and AI what Llama has done for enterprise AI." The Cosmos code is available under an open-source license on GitHub.
Nvidia’s Automotive Partnerships
Huang Emphasized Nvidia’s automotive partners in his CES 2025 keynote. Nvidia has inked a deal for Toyota, the world’s largest car manufacturer, to use the company’s autonomous driving chips and software in multiple different models of car. "The AV revolution has arrived," said Huang, meaning autonomous vehicles. "Today, Toyota and Nvidia are going to partner together to create their next-generation AVs." Self-driving cars will be the "first trillion-dollar robotics market," Huang predicted.
Other Announcements
Other announcements in the keynote included GEFORCE "Blackwell," the latest version of the company’s gaming GPU, which is slashed in price from its predecessor 4090 to $549 from $1,599, available starting this month, with laptop versions coming in March; and Project DIGITS, a compact personal computer optimized for AI development, running a new version of the Grace-Blackwell combined CPU and GPU chip, called GB10.
Conclusion
Nvidia’s Cosmos is a groundbreaking technology that has the potential to revolutionize the robotics and autonomous vehicle industries. With its ability to generate realistic video imagery and train robots and automobiles, Cosmos is a game-changer for companies looking to make a name for themselves in these fields.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: What is Nvidia’s Cosmos?
A: Cosmos is a set of AI technologies that forms a new software platform for robotics and autonomous vehicles.
Q: What is the purpose of Cosmos?
A: Cosmos is designed to fill the biggest gap that’s keeping robots from becoming more useful: training data.
Q: How does Cosmos work?
A: Cosmos works in conjunction with Nvidia’s physics simulation tool, Omniverse, to generate photo-realistic video imagery and train robots and automobiles.
Q: What are the potential applications of Cosmos?
A: Cosmos has the potential to enable robotics and autonomous vehicle makers to make important leaps forward in the years ahead.
