Apple Hires an Artificial Intelligence Expert From Nvidia. Is He Going to Work on Self-Driving Cars?

In what may be another sign that Apple is getting serious about cars, the company has hired Jonathan Cohen, the director of deep learning for chipmaker Nvidia. Nvidia is best known for its graphics products used for computer games, but it has recently been pushing into the world of autonomous vehicles.

Cohen reported the change on his LinkedIn page.

Deep learning, as Re/code has documented, is a branch of artificial intelligence prized at tech companies for its ability to train computers to process patterns in large reams of visual data. Lately, Nvidia has used the technique for cars. The company sells its chips — graphic processing units, or GPUs — to car makers, which use it to power cameras and radar that enable vehicles to drive autonomously.

Apple is building up a sizable internal operation around cars. Last week, CEO Tim Cook said that a “massive change” is coming to the industry.

“This is a big hire for Apple,” Chris Nicholson, co-founder of deep learning startup Skymind.io. “Nvidia’s GPUs are being used to power auto-pilot systems in cars, so the implications are pretty clear.”

We reached out to Apple and Nvidia for comment, and will update if we hear back.

Nvidia primarily provides computing hardware for the gaming industry, but it has ramped up its automotive division. In its most recent fiscal year, the company said its automotive unit reached $183 million in revenue. Cohen has run its deep learning group since 2008.

Apple currently uses deep learning tech for things like its maps and voice recognition with Siri. Cohen’s new LinkedIn bio doesn’t spell out what he’s up to. “I build software”, it reads.

Here he is at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show discussing how Nvidia’s tech is used in self-driving cars:

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

We're here to shed some clarity

One of our core beliefs here at Vox is that everyone needs and deserves access to the information that helps them understand the world, regardless of whether they can pay for a subscription. With the 2024 election on the horizon, more people are turning to us for clear and balanced explanations of the issues and policies at stake. We’re so grateful that we’re on track to hit 85,000 contributions to the Vox Contributions program before the end of the year, which in turn helps us keep this work free. We need to add 2,500 contributions this month to hit that goal. Will you make a contribution today to help us hit this goal and support our policy coverage? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via