Swedish luxury vehicle manufacturer Volvo Cars has acquired a stake in US-based autonomous vehicle sensor technology manufacturer Luminar through its newly founded Volvo Cars Tech Fund investment fund.

With this investment in Luminar, Volvo Cars has further strengthened its existing collaboration with the firm, which is currently engaged in the development and testing of its LiDAR sensing technology on Volvo cars.

The technology detects objects using pulsed laser signals and serves as a crucial element of creating safe autonomous vehicles.

Volvo Cars research and development senior vice-president Henrik Green said: “LiDAR is a key technology for enabling autonomous cars to navigate safely in complex traffic environments and at higher speeds.

“Our LiDAR is the first to deliver the necessary performance to enable safe and reliable long-range perception, which is required to unlock their goals of autonomy at highway speeds.”

“Our collaboration with Luminar allows us to learn more about its promising technologies and takes Volvo Cars one step further to the highly autonomous cars of the future.”

The Volvo Cars Tech Fund was launched earlier this year. It focuses on potential technology start-ups around the globe and invests in technology trends that are transforming the industry such as artificial intelligence, electrification, autonomous driving and digital mobility services.

Luminar founder and CEO Austin Russell said: “Volvo is at the forefront of autonomous vehicle development, and their safety-centric approach to autonomy is directly aligned with our sensing capabilities.

“Our LiDAR is the first to deliver the necessary performance to enable safe and reliable long-range perception, which is required to unlock their goals of autonomy at highway speeds.”

Under the new partnership, Luminar will have the opportunity to benefit from Volvo Cars access to the Chinese car market.

Financial details of the transaction have not been divulged by the companies.