Tested the latest ‘main’ release of the NVIDIA driver – 340.58 – and it compiled/loaded with Kernel 3.18-rc3 without any patches..    Further testing not possible, as 3.18-rc3 is still not stable on my systems..

More info at:  http://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/79413/en-us

Robert Gadsdon.  November 5, 2014.