Nvidia Launches Cosmos 3 Model to Power Physical AI in Robots and Autonomous Vehicles

Nvidia introduced Cosmos 3 in June 2026, a foundation model built to help robots and autonomous vehicles understand and navigate the physical world. The release marks a significant step in what the company calls "physical AI," the application of artificial intelligence to real-world industrial and transportation tasks.

Cosmos 3 is designed to give machines a richer understanding of their environment, including how objects move, how surfaces behave, and how to predict the actions of other agents in a shared space. Nvidia says the model can be used across a range of applications, from warehouse robots to self-driving vehicles.

The launch came alongside news that Nvidia is deepening its alliance with Hyundai to deploy physical AI in manufacturing settings through Boston Dynamics. The partnership aims to bring autonomous systems into factory floors at scale.

Nvidia also expanded its humanoid robot platform in June, collaborating with manufacturers in the United States, Europe, and South Korea to standardize secure research hardware. These systems use Nvidia's Blackwell chips and are being tested for real-world industrial tasks.

The push into physical AI reflects a broader industry shift. After years of focus on language models and chatbots, major technology companies are now investing heavily in systems that can act in the physical world, not just generate text or images.

Uber is also expanding its robotaxi testing in Europe, with a new push in Munich using Nvidia's Drive Hyperion platform. A partnership with Wayve is expected to bring robotaxi service to London later this year.