Volvo Cars, automotive safety systems supplier Autoliv, and Nvidia, the AI and visual computing technology company, are teaming up to develop advanced systems and software for self-driving cars.
Autoliv and Volvo, together with their newly-formed automotive software development joint venture (JV) Zenuity, will work with Nvidia to develop next generation self-driving car technologies, with a target to bring SAE Level 4 autonomous driving to the market by 2021.
As part of the agreement Autoliv, Volvo and Zenuity will use Nvidia’s DRIVE PX car computing platform as the foundation for their own advanced software development, bringing together two of the most respected companies in automotive safety with one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies. The four partners will work together to develop systems that can use deep learning, a form of AI, to recognize objects in their environment, anticipate potential threats and navigate safely.
Using the Nvidia DRIVE PX platform, these systems can compare full 360º, real-time situational awareness with a known high-definition map, enabling them to plan a safe route and drive precisely along it, adjusting to ever-changing circumstances. They also perform other critical functions, such as stitching camera inputs to create a complete surround-view of the car’s environment. The cooperation with Nvidia will complement Zenuity’s existing mission to provide Autoliv autonomous vehicle-related software to third party OEMs using the company’s established and broad sales, marketing and distribution network, and to provide Volvo with self-driving software for its own vehicles.
“We now have full access to the leading computing platform for autonomous driving,” noted Autoliv’s chairman and CEO, Jan Carlson. “We, Volvo Cars and Nvidia share the same vision for safe, autonomous driving. This cooperation will further advance our leading ADAS and autonomous driving product and solution offerings to the market.”
Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, added, “This cooperation with Nvidia places Volvo, 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 our own commercially available autonomous drive cars.”
Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, said, “Artificial intelligence is the essential tool for solving the incredibly demanding challenge of autonomous driving. We are building on our earlier collaboration with Volvo to create production ready vehicles that will make driving safer, lead to greener cities and reduce congestion on our roads.”
