Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang speaks during Nvidia Live at CES 2026 (Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images)

Nvidia’s autonomous tech gives other automakers a chance to take on Tesla

Nvidia made a number of autonomous vehicle announcements at CES yesterday that should have Tesla worried.

1/6/26 9:00AM

Updated 1/6/26 1:54PM

Tesla is known for being an island. While most other carmakers and robotaxi services rely on an intricate web of hardware and software partnerships, Tesla does nearly everything in-house, from vehicle construction to the AI that powers its Full Self-Driving technology.

Enter Nvidia, whose autonomous driving software and hardware announcements yesterday underscore how Tesla’s once inaccessible approach to autonomy is becoming something other automakers can buy.

Presenting at the CES conference in Las Vegas yesterday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled Alpamayo, an open “reasoning” AI model family designed specifically for autonomous driving. The Alpamayo family of tools will introduce “chain-of-thought” models that can assess “novel or rare scenarios step by step.” In the press release accompanying the announcement, Huang said that the “ChatGPT moment for physical AI is here” and that he expects robotaxis to be among the first to benefit. Nvidia confirmed that Mercedes-Benz will begin shipping cars with the technology this year, offering advanced driver-assistance features comparable to Tesla’s FSD. (Mercedes’ former parent, Daimler, once held a 10% equity stake in Tesla.)

The AI chip designer also announced that it’s expanding its DRIVE Hyperion autonomous vehicle platform, bringing in a wide range of auto suppliers and sensor makers as it pushes the system as a ready-to-use foundation for self-driving cars and robotaxis. The platform bundles Nvidia’s latest Thor chips with cameras, radar, and lidar, centralized vehicle controls, and safety, simulation, and AI training tools — effectively packaging many of the pieces Tesla has built in-house into a system other automakers can use.

Taken together, the announcements show Nvidia turning autonomy into a platform business — one that could erode Tesla’s long-standing advantage by allowing rivals to buy the hardware, software, and safety infrastructure Tesla built for itself.

“I’m not losing any sleep about this,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has had a notably chummy relationship with Huang, posted last night — one of several about the Nvidia announcements. “And I genuinely hope they succeed.”

I’m not losing any sleep about this.

And I genuinely hope they succeed.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 6, 2026

In another comment, Musk noted that there’s a years-long interval between when autonomous tech “sort of works to where it is much safer than a human,” suggesting that Tesla is way ahead of any would-be competitors. Indeed, Musk added, “This is maybe a competitive pressure on Tesla in 5 or 6 years, but probably longer.”

Tesla is down about more than 4% today, while Nvidia, up slightly earlier today, is flat. Aeva, a 4D lidar company Nvidia announced a partnership with, soared as high as 37%.

Jon Keegan24h

OpenAI reportedly delaying erotica feature to focus on “gains in intelligence”

OpenAI is delaying its planned “adult mode,” as it seeks to shore up ChatGPT’s core capabilities before the chatbot can generate erotic content.

A source within OpenAI told tech news site Sources that the company will miss its Q1 target for launching the feature:

“We’re pushing out the launch of adult mode so we can focus on work that is a higher priority for more users right now, including gains in intelligence, personality improvements, personalization, and making the experience more proactive.”

The company said it still believes in “treating adults like adults,” but said it wants to get the experience right. OpenAI has been testing user age estimation technology ahead of the planned release.

Liz Reid on where Google Search ends and Gemini begins

“We’re pushing out the launch of adult mode so we can focus on work that is a higher priority for more users right now, including gains in intelligence, personality improvements, personalization, and making the experience more proactive.”

Rani Molla

3/6/26

Why Apple is moving into the lower-cost smartphone and laptop markets

The luxury tech maker is heading down-market.

Man taking picture of Times Square using smart phone, personal perspective view

Ads have entered the chat

Advertisers are crowding into the next digital frontier.

Rani Molla3/6/26

Jon Keegan3/6/26

Anthropic will sue the Pentagon over supply chain risk designation, Amodei says

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a public post that the company will sue the Pentagon after receiving a letter from the Department of Defense officially designating Anthropic as “a supply chain risk to America’s national security.”

Amodei says that the effect of the unprecedented designation for an American company is more narrow than originally described, and that most of its customers would not be affected.

“With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts.”

Amodei says the company does not “believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”

The CEO also apologized for statements he made in a leaked internal memo in which he claimed that the company was targeted because it didn’t show “dictator-style praise” for President Trump.

Where things stand with the Department of War

“With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts.”

Amodei says the company does not “believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”

The CEO also apologized for statements he made in a leaked internal memo in which he claimed that the company was targeted because it didn’t show “dictator-style praise” for President Trump.

$40B💰

Rani Molla3/6/26

SoftBank is going to great lengths to double down on OpenAI — including taking on significant debt. After completing a $40 billion investment to become one of the ChatGPT maker’s largest backers, the Japanese conglomerate is now seeking a roughly $40 billion loan with a 12-month term, Bloomberg reports.

The financing would be SoftBank’s largest-ever dollar-denominated deal. The AI investment has helped lift profits, but it is also pressuring SoftBank’s credit profile.