Volvo is teaming up with automotive safety company Autoliv and NVIDIA, the AI and visual computing company, to develop advanced systems and software for self-driving cars. The new partnership is part of Volvo’s goal to have a Level 4 autonomous car for sale by 2021.
The three companies will work together with Zenuity, a newly-formed automotive software development joint venture equally owned by Volvo and Autoliv, to develop next generation self-driving car technologies. Volvo, Autoliv and Zenuity will use NVIDIA’s AI car computing platform as the foundation for their own advanced software development.
“This cooperation with NVIDIA places Volvo Cars, Autoliv and Zenuity at the forefront of the fast moving market to develop next generation autonomous driving capabilities and will speed up the development of Volvo’s own commercially available autonomous drive cars,” said Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.
The plan is for Volvo, Autoliv, Zenuity and NVIDIA to work together to develop systems that can utilize deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence that can recognize objects in their environment, anticipate potential threats and navigate safely. According to Volvo, the systems can compare real-time situational awareness with a known high-definition map, enabling them to plan a safe route and drive precisely along it. The systems can also perform other critical functions, like stitching camera inputs to create a complete surround-view of the car.
Jan Carlson, chief executive of Autoliv, said: “With NVIDIA, we now have full access to the leading AI computing platform for autonomous driving. Autoliv, Volvo Cars and NVIDIA share the same vision for safe, autonomous driving. This cooperation will further advance our leading ADAS and autonomous driving offerings to the market.”
Source: Volvo
