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Volvo chooses Nvidia Drive to develop self-driving trucks

Development of Volvo's self-driving trucks will be conducted in Silicon Valley and Gothenburg, Sweden.
Written by Campbell Kwan, Contributor

Nvidia will provide its autonomous driving platform to vehicle manufacturer Volvo for the development of self-driving trucks.

Volvo will use Nvidia's Drive solution to train, test, and deploy self-driving artificial intelligence (AI) vehicles to create trucks targeted at the public transport, freight transport, refuse and recycling collection, construction, mining, and forestry sectors.

"If we are to succeed in the future with the speed, quality and safety, and to gain benefits of autonomous driving, we need to partner up with the best guys. In this world of unknowns, you need a partnership built on trust," Volvo CEO Martin Lundstedt said.

Development of these self-driving trucks will be conducted in Silicon Valley and Gothenburg, Sweden. According to Volvo, the AI will build on the Drive AGX Pegasus platform that has been previously used by the Swedish car manufacturer.

Volvo will initially use the Drive AV software stack to develop 360-degree sensor processing, perception, map localisation, and path planning, as well as test and validate these systems using the solution's hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform.

SEE: Autonomous vehicles and the enterprise (ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature) | Download the free PDF version (TechRepublic)  

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The Volvo Group plans to introduce solutions based on NVIDIA technology across the entire spectrum of automation, from driver support systems to fully autonomous vehicles and machines.

(Image: Volvo)

"By combining the high-performance, end-to-end Nvidia Drive solutions with the scale of the second-largest truck maker globally, Nvidia and Volvo Group can bring the efficiencies of autonomous trucking to the world's markets sooner," Volvo said.

This is not the first time the companies have come together, with Volvo announcing in October it would use Nvidia's AGX Xavier platform to develop AI for its cars. In 2017, Nvidia and Volvo also partnered up to develop advanced systems and software for self-driving cars.

Nvidia has been expanding its footprint in the automotive sector, having inked a similar deal with Continental for it to use the Nvidia Drive platform from 2021 onwards.

Volvo unveiled its first cabin-less, autonomous truck, Vera in September. Since then, Vera trucks have been used in a pilot program that entails making trips from a logistics centre to a port in Gothenburg with minimal human interaction while also significantly reducing the environmental impact of the shipping process. 

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