Skip to main content

Volvo Cars and Autoliv JV to develop autonomous driving software

Automaker Volvo Cars and automotive safety systems supplier Autoliv are to set up a new jointly owned company to develop next-generation autonomous driving software. The planned new company will have its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, and an initial workforce taken from both companies of around 200, increasing to more than 600 in the medium term. The company is expected to start operations in the beginning of 2017.
September 8, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

Automaker 7192 Volvo Cars and automotive safety systems supplier 4171 Autoliv are to set up a new jointly owned company to develop next-generation autonomous driving software.

The planned new company will have its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, and an initial workforce taken from both companies of around 200, increasing to more than 600 in the medium term. The company is expected to start operations in the beginning of 2017.

The joint venture will create a new entrant in the growing global market for autonomous driving software systems. It marks the first time a leading premium car maker has joined forces with a tier-one supplier to develop new ADAS and AD technologies.

The new company, which has yet to be named, will develop advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous drive (AD) systems for use in Volvo cars and for sale exclusively by Autoliv to all car makers globally, with revenues shared by both companies.

The joint venture will bring together two global leaders in automotive safety, underlining the contribution ADAS and AD can make to road safety, and speeding up the development and introduction of fully autonomous cars.

Both Autoliv and Volvo Cars will licence and transfer the intellectual property for their ADAS systems to the joint venture. From this base, the company will develop new ADAS technologies and AD systems. It expects to have its first ADAS products available for sale by 2019, with AD technologies available by 2021.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • European Parliament test drives fuel cell vehicles
    October 29, 2012
    The 5th Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Drive ‘n’ Ride event was recently held in Strasbourg, France, under the patronage of Brian Simpson, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and chair of the European Parliament’s transport and tourism committee, to demonstrate the readiness of fuel cells and hydrogen as a viable route to zero emission transport in Europe.
  • Volkswagen to step up EV development
    October 16, 2015
    Volkswagen will cut investment plans at its biggest division by US$1.1 billion a year and step up development of electric vehicles (EV), as it battles to cope with the fallout from its cheating of diesel emissions tests, according to Reuters. The German company also said it would speed up cost cutting at the VW division, its largest by revenues, and put only the latest and ‘best environmental technology’ in diesel vehicles.
  • Shock therapy: jolt for EV charging needed
    October 2, 2018
    As sales of electric vehicles accelerate, the growth of charging infrastructure is in need of a big boost. Graham Anderson reports on whether Europe is up to it. Utilities, technology companies and vehicle manufacturers are battling to put in place new charging networks for electric vehicles (EVs) across Europe in response to a predicted dramatic surge in demand. Market experts believe that rapidly falling battery costs – which make up about one third of the costs of an electric car – and growing
  • Asfinag makes case for ITS-G5 over 5G
    March 15, 2019
    Asfinag’s Manfred Harrer and Peter Meckel talk to Jason Barnes about the organisation’s first steps towards C-ITS deployments - and why ITS-G5 will be the underpinning standard For quite a number of years, it was assumed that the connectivity required for cooperative ITS (C-ITS) applications and autonomous vehicle (AV) operations would be catered for by a bespoke communications solution/protocol. This would provide localised ad hoc communication in a manner similar to Wi-Fi, and the dedicated bandwidth/n