[CES 2026] Jensen Huang Declares "Era of Physical AI"... Mercedes Collaboration Autonomous Vehicle Launch Set for 2026

"A Single Platform for All AI"
Vera Rubin Enters Full-Scale Mass Production
Autonomous Driving AI 'Alphamayo' Unveiled
Robotics Products from Companies Like LG Electronics Highlighted

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, has unveiled the 'Physical AI' technology, which is applied to autonomous vehicles and robots, along with the next-generation superchip 'Vera Rubin.' He also introduced 'Cosmos,' a model for training and validating AI in virtual environments, the autonomous vehicle platform 'Alphamayo,' and the next-generation AI chip that powers them, presenting a strategy for a 'single platform for all AI.' Notably, he defined autonomous driving as "the first large-scale commercial market of the Physical AI era," drawing significant attention.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, explained the collaboration with Mercedes-Benz during his keynote speech at the Nvidia CES 2026 Live held at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on the 5th (local time). Photo by Yonhap News

On January 5 (local time), during his keynote speech at CES 2026, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition held at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Las Vegas, USA, CEO Huang introduced Vera Rubin. This superchip is a next-generation AI computing platform that integrates the central processing unit (CPU) 'Vera' and the graphics processing unit (GPU) 'Rubin' into a single design. Compared to the previous 'Grace Blackwell,' it delivers five times the inference performance and reduces the cost per token to one-tenth. CEO Huang stated, "We had to begin production at this point to avoid falling behind by even a single year," adding, "Vera Rubin has already entered full-scale mass production."

Nvidia cited the rapid rise of physical AI, such as autonomous vehicles and robots, as the reason for unveiling Vera Rubin early. CEO Huang emphasized, "The next stage of AI is robotics," and added, "AI must interact with humans in the physical world, not just in text or images." In this context, he explained that "accelerated computing is the fundamental structure of the AI era."

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, is delivering the keynote speech at CES 2026, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition, held on the 5th (local time) at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Las Vegas, USA. Photo by Park Joonyi.

CEO Huang defined autonomous driving as "the first large-scale commercial market of the Physical AI era." He stated, "The transition from non-autonomous vehicles to autonomous vehicles has already reached an inflection point," and predicted, "In the future, most cars and trucks will be equipped with autonomous driving capabilities."

NVIDIA unveiled the autonomous vehicle platform 'Alphamayo'. Photo by Junyi Park.

Nvidia also introduced AI designed to advance autonomous driving. Cosmos, unveiled on this day, is a technology that creates a virtual environment reflecting physical laws such as gravity, inertia, and collisions to train and validate AI for autonomous vehicles and robots. CEO Huang explained, "It is impossible to collect data for every situation in the real world," and emphasized, "Transforming computation into data is the core of Physical AI."

The autonomous driving AI trained in this virtual environment is Alphamayo. Alphamayo features an end-to-end architecture that processes everything from camera input to steering, acceleration, and braking within a single AI model, and is notable for providing not only driving decisions but also the reasons behind those decisions. Nvidia stated that it enhanced safety by applying a dual autonomous driving software structure, where a conservative control system intervenes if the AI's judgment is uncertain.

This autonomous driving technology will be applied to actual vehicles through collaboration with automakers. Nvidia will provide the autonomous driving AI, semiconductors, and software, while Mercedes-Benz will be responsible for vehicle development and mass production. Vehicles equipped with this technology are scheduled to be released first in the United States in the first quarter of 2026, followed by expansion into the Asian market in the third quarter.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, personally introduced Vera Rubin at CES 2026, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition, held on the 5th (local time) at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Las Vegas, USA. Photo by Park Jooni.

CEO Huang characterized these changes as another platform shift in the computer industry. He stated, "Now, applications (apps) are built on AI," and added, "We have moved from an era of programming software to an era of training AI."

The keynote also highlighted the scalability of Physical AI. Nvidia referenced robots from global companies such as LG Electronics and Boston Dynamics, emphasizing that Physical AI is expanding beyond autonomous driving into robotics and manufacturing sites.

CEO Huang stated, "AI is no longer just a tool for communication, but a foundational technology that understands and operates in the real world," and noted that Nvidia is evolving from a GPU manufacturer into a computing platform company for the Physical AI era.