Volvo has collaborated with automotive safety company Autoliv and artificial intelligence developer NVIDIA to develope advanced systems and software for self-driving cars. 

For developing the next-generation autonomous car technologies, the three companies will be working with Zenuity, a software development joint-venture firm created by Volvo Cars and Autoliv.

Under the new partnership, Volvo Cars, Autoliv and Zenuity will use NVIDIA’s AI car computing platform as the foundation for advanced software development.

NVIDIA chief executive Jensen Huang 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 Cars to create production-ready vehicles that will make driving safer, lead to greener cities and reduce congestion on our roads.”

Volvo Cars, Autoliv, Zenuity and NVIDIA will be jointly developing systems that will have the potential to recognise objects in their environment, anticipate potential threats and navigate safely.

The new system will have the ability to compare real-time situational awareness with a known high-definition map, enabling them to plan a safe route and drive precisely along it, as well as adjusting to the changing road conditions.

"Artificial intelligence is the essential tool for solving the incredibly demanding challenge of autonomous driving."

In addition, these systems will be able to perform other key functions such as stitching camera inputs to create a complete surround-view of the car. 

Zenuity will be responsible for delivering self-driving technology to Volvo Cars, and at the same time, Autoliv will also sell this software to third-party OEMs using its established and broad sales, marketing, and distribution network.

Autoliv chief executive Jan Carlson 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.”

The company further added that Volvo Cars is committed to having Level 4 autonomous cars for sale by 2021.

Volvo Cars president and chief executive Hakan Samuelsson said: "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.”