The age of AI living solely on computer screens is ending. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced the arrival of the “Physical AI” era. The centerpiece of this shift is Alpamayo, a new reasoning technology that allows machines—specifically self-driving cars—to interact intelligently with the physical world.
Huang described this transition as the “ChatGPT moment” for robotics. While language models process text, Physical AI processes the environment. Alpamayo uses “chain-of-thought” reasoning to understand visual data, allowing a car to perceive a complex situation, reason through the necessary actions, and execute them safely in real-time.
The impact of this technology will be felt first in the autonomous vehicle sector. Robotaxis, which must navigate unpredictable city streets without human intervention, are the primary target. Nvidia’s tech allows these vehicles to handle rare and confusing scenarios, such as navigating around an accident scene, by understanding the context rather than just following rigid rules.
To prove the concept is road-ready, Nvidia showcased the Mercedes-Benz CLA. Launching in the US in the coming months, this vehicle uses the new AI to drive naturally. A video demonstration showed the car maneuvering through San Francisco with the smoothness of a human driver, a stark contrast to the hesitant movements of earlier robotic systems.
Fueling this new era is the Vera Rubin chip platform. Arriving later this year, these chips provide the massive computational power needed to bridge the gap between digital reasoning and physical motion. Nvidia is effectively building the nervous system for the next generation of intelligent machines.