Nvidia helped kick off CES 2023 today by broadcasting a special address in which the company announced a few new advancements in its cloud computing tech, the most notable of which is that GeForce Now game streaming is coming to cars in 2023.
This is potentially huge for both Nvidia's business and that of participating car companies, which at the outset includes BYD, the Hyundai Motor Group (including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis cars) and Polestar.
These companies already have existing partnerships with Nvidia to integrate the GPU titan's hardware or software into their vehicles, including the Nvidia Drive in-vehicle entertainment system. If you happen to own one of the cars which will support Nvidia GeForce Now game streaming, the company claims no additional hardware will be required to take advantage of it — you just need to pair a gamepad to a car that supports Nvidia GeForce Now game streaming and has a decent Internet connection. Nvidia claims GeForce Now can stream to any car that supports it via an app that can run on Android- or browser-based car infotainment systems.
Safety concerns
Obviously there are some serious risks to making video games playable in a motor vehicle that can easily kill someone if the driver isn't paying attention. Nvidia has made it clear that GeForce Now games will only be streamable to those in the back seat(s) while a vehicle is moving. Drivers and front-seat passengers may also be able to play games via GeForce Now, but only while the vehicle is parked.
And of course, this isn't the first time someone has made video games playable in a motor vehicle. Select Audi vehicles let you play VR games via Holoride tech (though not while you're driving), and Tesla cars let you play PC games (including Steam games) even while driving.
Cars that support GeForce Now game streaming
Unfortunately, we haven't yet heard which specific models of car will support GeForce Now, nor when we should expect that support to come online. We'll update this section if and when we learn more.
What we know so far is that GeForce Now game streaming will be supported in select vehicles from BYD, the Hyundai Motor Group (which again encompasses not just Hyundai, but also Genesis, Kia, and Ioniq vehicles) and Polestar. However, Nvidia has made it pretty clear that this tech is (at least at first) aimed at vehicles capable of autonomous driving.
That's a very reasonable expectation, so it seems like a smart bet to expect autonomous vehicles which already support the Nvidia Drive in-car infotainment system to be the first to support GeForce Now game streaming.
Outlook
Does streaming Cyberpunk 2077 while you're waiting for your car to charge sound like fun? It does to me, but I don't (yet) happen to own one of the cars that would let me take advantage of such luxury. For game fans that do happen to own one of these cars, Nvidia seems to have just given you another great reason not to buy a Tesla.
