Nvidia is expanding deals for its autonomous vehicle development business to Hyundai Motor, Nissan Motor and Isuzu, as well as Chinese automakers BYD and Geely, the software and chip giant announced Monday.

The new tie-ups are for Nvidia’s “Drive Hyperion” platform for AVs. The system helps companies develop and deploy driver-assist and autonomous driving capabilities for “Level 4” AVs, which are capable of driving without human intervention under predefined areas or circumstances.

“We’ve been working on self-driving cars for a long time. The ChatGPT moment of self-driving cars has arrived,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Monday during the company’s GTC conference. “We now know we could successfully autonomously drive cars, and today, we are announcing four new partners for Nvidia’s robotaxi-ready platform. … The number of robotaxi-ready cars in the future are going to be incredible.”

No vehicles on sale to consumers today are capable of driving themselves without human monitoring or intervention, but some companies, such as Alphabet’s Waymo, offer ride-hailing fleets with Level 4 self-driving vehicles, also known as robotaxis. Most vehicles on sale today are considered Level 2, with drivers needing to continually monitor the systems.

Drive Hyperion is part of what Nvidia calls its “end-to-end” AV platform that includes data center training, large-scale simulations and in-vehicle computing. The company does not produce or sell AVs or many of the components needed to operate such vehicles.

Current Nvidia customers for Drive Hyperion include many self-driving companies such as Aurora and Nuro, as well as other more consumer-facing businesses such as Sony Group, Uber Technologies, Jeep parent Stellantis and electric vehicle maker Lucid Group.

AVs are important to Nvidia, as self-driving cars remain one of the primary areas where the chipmaker can show growth outside of artificial intelligence.

Many believe AI could be key to the proliferation of AVs, which Wall Street analysts and automotive executives have targeted as a multitrillion-dollar growth industry.

The new companies add to a growing list of such tie-ups for Nvidia, as the chipmaker and the automotive and technology industries try to capitalize on and proliferate AVs after years of failed ventures for robotaxis.

Waymo has led the AV industry for years, while others such as Tesla, Uber and Amazon’s Zoox attempt to catch up.

General Motors-backed Cruise, which was previously viewed as a leader alongside Waymo, disbanded amid controversies after a pedestrian was dragged by one of its vehicles in San Francisco. GM spent more than $10 billion on Cruise before ending the robotaxi operations in 2024.

— CNBC’s Katie Tarasov contributed to this report.

DETROIT — Toyota Motor, Hyundai Motor and Chinese automakers such as Chery face the most potential impact of non-domestic automakers from the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, according to an analysis by Bernstein.

Those international automakers account for roughly a third of sales in the Middle East, according to the report, led by Toyota at 17%, Hyundai at 10% and Chery at 5%. In Iran specifically, Bernstein reports Iranian automakers Iran Khodro and SAIPA lead, followed by Chery with a 6% market share.

Other Chinese carmakers also are expected to be impacted, as the Middle East has become a growing destination for Chinese auto exports. Bernstein, citing China export data, said the region accounted for about 17% of China’s passenger vehicle exports in 2025.

The Bernstein report notes that while sales in the region will be impacted, the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean, and rising oil prices will have ripple effects across the global automotive industry.

“Closure of the Strait of Hormuz adds 10-14 days to transit times,” Bernstein analyst Eunice Lee said in a Wednesday investor note, adding “a prolonged conflict and closure of the strait would hurt sales, increase logistics costs, and delay deliveries.”

Roughly 20 million barrels of crude oil travel through the strait every day, according to consulting firm AlixPartners. It’s also a “critical passage” for vehicle and parts shipments to the Middle East, Bernstein noted.

Bernstein said any effect on Japanese automakers “appears limited for now, but close monitoring of developments is still required.” It also said, of the European automakers, Chrysler and Jeep parent Stellantis “seems to have the largest exposure in light of its overall issues.”

“The impact of rising gasoline pump prices is already being seen in Stellantis’ 11% stock price slump since its close last Friday – making so sharp a pivot to gas guzzling HEMI V8 engines and writing off its electrification efforts seems particularly inauspiciously timed at the moment,” Lee wrote.

U.S. crude oil prices on Thursday topped $80 per barrel, and retail gasoline prices in the U.S. have jumped nearly 27 cents since last week to $3.25 per gallon on average, according to the motorist group AAA.

Stellantis this week said it is “closely monitoring developments across the affected countries,” noting it’s “not yet possible to fully assess the potential impact on local operations.”

Toyota, in an emailed statement, said it does “not conduct business in Iran and do not have any resident employees there.” The company said it is “closely monitoring the situation and prioritizing the safety of our local resident employees in the Middle East and related parties.”

Hyundai and Chery did not immediately respond for requests for comment.

DETROIT – The U.S. automotive industry has entered a new phase for all-electric vehicles: realism.

The industry was euphoric about the EV segment in the early 2020s, but consumer demand never took off as much as expected and, as it fizzled, automakers monitored and planned how to react. Now, they’re pivoting, as companies have wasted billions of dollars in capital, Detroit automakers are refocusing on large gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, and many have admitted that policies, not consumers, were driving the charge for EVs.

“We have to make the investments to get to … the regulatory environment they set. We’ve seen a complete change in that. One way, 180 degrees. One way, 180 degrees back. That’s the world CEOs of automakers are living in,” GM CEO and Chair Mary Barra said earlier this month during The New York Times’ DealBook conference.

How automakers like GM that invested heavily in EVs will respond over the next year will be telling for the future of the vehicles in the U.S., according to industry insiders and experts.

Barra said “it’s too early to tell” what true demand for EVs is following the end of up to $7,500 in federal incentives in September to purchase an electric vehicle. She said the industry will likely find its natural demand over the next six months.

In the meantime, GM continues to reassess its EV plans after disclosing a $1.6 billion impact from its pullback in those investments, with more write-downs expected in the future. Ford Motor last week said it expects to record about $19.5 billion in special items related to a restructuring of its business priorities and a pullback in its all-electric vehicle investments.

“We evaluated the market, and we made the call. We’re following customers to where the market is, not where people thought it was going to be,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told CNBC last week.

U.S. EV sales peaked in September, ahead of the federal incentives ending, at 10.3% of the new vehicle market, according to Cox Automotive. That demand plummeted to preliminary estimates of 5.2% during the fourth quarter.

“The long-term direction toward electrification remains clear: The future is electric. However, the timeline is being recalibrated,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Cox director of industry insights. “In the near term, automakers will continue to adjust their strategies and significantly expand hybrid offerings to meet consumers where they are today.”

Most industry experts, including those at consulting firm PwC, don’t believe it’s the end days for EVs, but rather that expectations are more realistic now. PwC expects the EV industry to pick up toward the end of this decade, with EVs forecast to make up 19% of the U.S. industry by 2030.

“As several of the U.S. [automakers] have announced, there’s some level of charges, and we got out in front of the customer demand and likely the infrastructure that’s otherwise available here in the U.S.,” C.J. Finn, U.S. automotive industry leader…

DETROIT — Hyundai Motor and General Motors are set to be two of the greatest beneficiaries of lower U.S. tariffs on imports, including vehicles, from South Korea.

The South Korean-based automaker is the largest U.S. importer of new vehicles from the country, followed by GM. Both automakers have paid billions of dollars in levies so far this year after President Donald Trump placed 25% tariffs on imported vehicles from South Korea and other countries in the spring.

The Trump administration this past week confirmed plans to lower tariffs on certain products, including vehicles, to 15% from South Korea. A notice about the implementation of the trade deal was posted Wednesday on the Federal Register. Other countries such as Japan and the United Kingdom also have negotiated lower tariff rates with the Trump administration.

Prior to the reduction, Hyundai reported U.S. tariffs costed the company 1.8 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in the third quarter, up from 828 billion won ($565 million) in the previous quarter. GM most recently said its tariff impacts, largely from South Korea and Mexico, were expected to be between $3.5 billion and $4.5 billion in 2025.

GM CFO Paul Jacobson said Wednesday that the automaker initially expected tariffs on South Korean imports to cost $2 billion but that the company has been able to offset many of those costs. He said GM expects the levies to cost closer to $1 billion or less in 2026.

“We do think that is going to be a tailwind next year, just not as much as the whole 50% because the ultimate tariff bill that we’re going to pay this year for Korea was going to be a lot lower than the $2 billion from the stuff that we’ve been working on,” Jacobson said during a UBS conference.

The U.S. tariff announcement comes after South Korea officially introduced legislation in its parliament aiming to fulfill its promise to invest $350 billion for the U.S. over several years.

“Korea’s commitment to American investment strengthens our economic partnership and domestic jobs and industry. We are also grateful for the deep trust between our two nations,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement posted Monday on X.

Hyundai North America CEO Randy Parker said the tariffs are still challenging but better than 25% as the automaker aims for a sixth-consecutive year of record U.S. retail sales in 2026.

“Fifteen percent is still 15%,” he told CNBC during a phone interview Tuesday. “Getting to 15% is a great milestone. It’s been quite the journey reaching this agreement, which has been, I would…

Last week’s sweeping immigration raid on a Hyundai facility in Georgia could spell trouble for other companies as President Donald Trump cracks down on illegal immigration on a larger scale.

The raid in Ellabell, Georgia, marked the largest single-site enforcement operation in the Department of Homeland Security’s history, according to special agent Steven Schrank. Nearly 500 workers, many of whom were South Korean nationals, were detained at the plant.

The raid was conducted on a site owned by South Korean companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, which are jointly building a battery manufacturing plant. The DHS said the arrested workers were employed by contractors or subcontractors, and Hyundai said none of the detainees were direct employees of the auto company. U.S. authorities, who had a search warrant, said the arrested workers were working or living in the country illegally.

White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that the raid was just the beginning of what’s to come from the administration.

“We’re going to do more worksite enforcement operations,” he said. “These companies that hire illegal aliens, they undercut their competition that’s paying U.S. citizen salaries.”

Some reactions to the raid’s fallout may already be in motion.

Hyundai told NBC News Monday morning that most of its business travel to the U.S. was remaining in place, but that some trips were subject to internal review.

Tami Overby, a partner at DGA Group Government Relations, said most of the companies she’s talked to are waiting to see what the implications of last week’s raid might be. She also said she believes Trump may understand they’re facing challenges with labor shortages and visa limitations and offer some relief soon.

Foreign companies may also be reassessing their U.S. investments, according to Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Trump, meanwhile, has been trying to increase U.S. investments with his aggressive tariff policies.

“I think what is clear is that it shows the message that obviously Hyundai would take away — and any foreign investors — that their investment here is very much insecure, to put it as simply as possible,” he told CNBC. “So I think that’s got to be a very big warning sign for any company looking to invest in the U.S.”

Baker said he believes companies will now try to replace as much of their workforce as possible with U.S. citizens, though that could be a tall order depending on people’s skills, labor shortages and other challenges.

For other foreign companies with U.S. operations, Baker said they likely won’t be looking to expand their footprint in the country so as to not put themselves in…