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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nv...n-more-than-just-self-driving-cars-2017-03-07

Nvidia pushes for artificial intelligence in more than just self-driving cars

Published: Mar 8, 2017 7:51 a.m. ET
Updated hardware and software aimed at devices like drones and robots
Nvidia Corp. announced renewed efforts to put artificial intelligence into a range of products beyond self-driving cars Tuesday, with an updated embedded system aimed at robots, drones and more.
At an event Tuesday evening in San Francisco, Nvidia NVDA, +1.16%   announced an updated embedded system called the Jetson TX2, which aims to put advanced computing power in a host of devices. The company has already found success with its AI-enabled systems for cars and servers, pushing its stock to new heights — though it has dropped over the past month — that included the biggest annual jump in the S&P 500 index in 2016.
Nvidia vice president Deepu Talla explained at the event that AI is mostly being used currently in data centers and delivered to devices through the cloud. The enhanced Jetson devices allow developers to embed AI directly into these devices, cutting down on the time it takes gadgets to access the greater computing power, Talla said.
“The deep learning is able to crunch all this data much, much faster,” Talla said.
The embedded system is much easier to use and cheaper than competitive systems, which are typically custom-built, said tech analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group.
“This is a smaller ‘brain in the box’ that is much more affordable,” Enderle said.
Baidu Chief Scientist Andrew Ng and SingularityUniversity's Neil Jacobstein talk about the types of jobs that could be replaced with AI in the near future. They speak with WSJ's Scott Austin at the CIO Network in San Francisco.
Partners showed off autonomous search-and-rescue drones, home health-care robots and more devices equipped with the system Tuesday evening at a wine bar in the South of Market area of San Francisco. Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, +0.47%   demonstrated the abilities of its collaboration hardware, the Spark Board, thanks to Nvidia’s Jetson architecture.
Fellow Robotics, a startup from San Jose, Calif., showed off an updated version of a robot developed for Lowe’s hardware stores that can automatically take inventory and make orders, as well as assist customers. The new system would help negate the need for a wireless connection that can stress a store’s network without requiring more power, Fellow’s Varun Krishna said at the event..
Beyond the hardware, Nvidia refreshed its software development kit that helps developers take advantage of the technology, called Jetpack 3.0. Talla said the updated embedded system doubles the potential performance from the previous version, and the updated software also doubles its performance, making the new system four times as powerful.
The developer kit for the Jetson TX2 is priced at $599 and will begin shipping to the U.S. and Europe on March 14, with education pricing of $299; the price of the previous model, Jetson TX1, was reduced to $499. For quantities of 1,000 or more, Nvidia will eventually charge $399 per unit for the TX2.