As the autonomous driving race heats up, Volvo Car Group and Swedish automotive safety supplier, Autoliv QB, Inc. has announced a joint venture to develop autonomous driving software.

The yet-to-be-named company will be headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden and will develop both advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous drive (AD) systems. The joint venture marks the “first time that a leading premium car maker has joined forces with a tier one supplier to develop new ADAS and AD technologies.”

The technology will be used in Volvo vehicles, which the car maker will source directly from the new company while Autoliv will sell the technology to other global car makers. The revenue from the sale of the technology to other car makers will be shared by both Volvo and Autoliv.

“There are no two companies that can claim to have done more for automotive safety worldwide than Autoliv and Volvo. This new company is a recognition of the fact that autonomous driving is the next step to transform road safety,” says Jan Carlson (pictured on the left), chairman, chief executive and president of Autoliv.

The joint venture will initially consist of 200 staff, taken from both companies, with plans to grow to more than 600 over the medium term.

The new company expects to start operations early next year, with the ADAS products expected to go on sale by 2019 while the AD systems will be available by 2021.

“By combining our know-how and resources we will create a world leader in AD software development. This means we can introduce this exciting technology to our customers faster,” says Håkan Samuelsson (pictured on the right), president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.

The autonomous driving race is on

Last month, Volvo entered into a $300 million alliance with Uber Technologies Inc. to develop a fleet of autonomous cars.  

Delphi Automotive PLC, a U.K.-based high-tech auto-parts provider, and Mobileye NV, an advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving technology provider also joined forces last month to develop an autonomous car system for any vehicle. The technology is also expected to be out in 2019.

Both Ford Motor Co. and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (better known as BMW), have both pinpointed 2021 as the year when each company’s vision of fully autonomous cars will become a reality.

Image via Autoliv