TIER IV accelerates AI-based Level 4 autonomous driving with NVIDIA's reasoning-based AI and world foundation models

TOKYO, March 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- TIER IV, the pioneering force behind open-source software for autonomous driving, is deepening its strategic collaboration with NVIDIA to redefine the future of Level 4 autonomous driving. Key highlights of this collaboration include the integration of NVIDIA Alpamayo, an open portfolio of AI models, simulation frameworks and physical AI datasets, and NVIDIA Cosmos, a platform with open world foundation models, guardrails and data processing libraries. These technologies will be integrated into Autoware*, open-source software for autonomous driving, and TIER IV's Co-MLOps platform, a collaborative data platform for AI development. Together with the autonomous bus deployment initiative with Isuzu and NVIDIA, TIER IV remains committed to advancing safe and scalable autonomous driving.

Enhancing Level 4 autonomous driving with NVIDIA Alpamayo

As a leading contributor to Autoware, TIER IV is integrating cutting-edge technologies through the development of software stacks for AI-based Level 4 autonomous driving. The company was an early adopter of NVIDIA Alpamayo 1, integrating it into Autoware to address complex scenarios with advanced reasoning processes and enhance explainability through language understanding.

This 10-billion-parameter vision-language-action model introduces a reasoning layer into the driving stack, leveraging chain-of-thought processing to interpret complex scene dynamics. These capabilities allow TIER IV to enhance transparency and traceability in AI decision-making while achieving the human-like judgment required to navigate increasingly unstructured and complex environments. TIER IV will test the new models unveiled at NVIDIA GTC 2026, integrating them into Autoware to accelerate safe and scalable commercial deployments.

Example of NVIDIA Alpamayo 1 applied to real-world vehicle data

Supercharging Co-MLOps platform with NVIDIA Cosmos

Since launching the Co-MLOps platform in 2024, TIER IV has led global initiatives to share large-scale data from around the world to develop and scale autonomous driving AI. By integrating NVIDIA Cosmos with the Co-MLOps platform, the company aims to expand the open-source software's capabilities to address the long tail of autonomous driving - rare, unpredictable edge cases that fall beyond predefined rules and conventional training scenarios.

The core functions of NVIDIA Cosmos include:

• Cosmos-Predict: Generates edge cases from multimodal prompts, creating the high-fidelity synthetic data needed to solve detection challenges that are difficult to capture in the real world.
• Cosmos-Transfer: Provides advanced data augmentation by transforming labeled data into various environmental conditions, such as heavy rain, snow, or different times of day, based on images generated by the automated labeling infrastructure.
• Cosmos-Reason: Rapidly searches, validates and summarizes vast amounts of driving data, using a vision-language model that captures the essence of the physical world.

Synthetic data generation for edge cases using NVIDIA Cosmos-Predict

Synthetic data generation for varying weather using NVIDIA Cosmos-Transfer

"To advance autonomous driving to the next generation, it is necessary to move toward reasoning-based systems capable of navigating the unpredictability of the real world," said Shinpei Kato, founder and CEO of TIER IV. "By being among the first to adopt NVIDIA Alpamayo and integrate NVIDIA Cosmos into our Co-MLOps platform, we are empowering the global Autoware community to realize safe and scalable autonomous driving."

"Physical AI represents the next frontier of the AI revolution, and TIER IV is among the pioneers leveraging NVIDIA Alpamayo and NVIDIA Cosmos to push the boundaries of what's possible," said Marco Pavone, Director of Autonomous Vehicle Research at NVIDIA. "By integrating NVIDIA Alpamayo into Autoware and utilizing NVIDIA Cosmos within their Co-MLOps platform, TIER IV is establishing a powerful blueprint for the ecosystem to build safer, more transparent autonomous driving systems."

NVIDIA GTC 2026 session

TIER IV will showcase the role of NVIDIA Cosmos in its Co-MLOps platform at NVIDIA GTC 2026.

• Title: Deployment of a dataset platform for autonomous driving using NVIDIA Cosmos
• Speaker: Dan Umeda
• Language: Japanese
• Session number: S81897
• Session page: https://www.nvidia.com/ja-jp/gtc/session-catalog/sessions/gtc26-s81897/

*Autoware is a registered trademark of the Autoware Foundation.

About TIER IV

TIER IV stands at the forefront of deep tech innovation, pioneering Autoware, open-source software for autonomous driving. With a comprehensive suite of platforms and services built around Autoware, TIER IV provides everything from software development and vehicle procurement to operational support. Through the Autoware ecosystem, TIER IV works with partners worldwide to shape the future of intelligent vehicles with open-source software, aiming to create mobility that is safer, more sustainable, and accessible to all.

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SOURCE TIER IV, Inc.