Volvo Partnership Aims for AI-Capable Computer

Volvo Cars and NVIDIA, an artificial intelligence computing firm, are joining forces to develop a highly advanced, AI-capable core computer for the next generation of Volvo cars.

Based on NVIDIA’s Drive AGX Xavier technology, the core computer will allow Volvo Cars to implement an advanced computing platform for its new cars on the forthcoming Scalable Product Architecture 2 (SPA 2) vehicle platform.

The first car with the new core computer will appear early in the next decade.

The new agreement deepens the existing partnership between Volvo Cars and NVIDIA, who last year began development of advanced systems and software for self-driving cars.

The new computing platform will take advantage of NVIDIA’s advances in AI as well as its computing power, allowing Volvo Cars to move forward in implementing advanced driver-support systems, energy-management technology and in-car personalization options.

Volvo Cars President and CEO Håkan Samuelsson says by adding advanced 360-degree perception capabilities and a driver-monitoring system, the core computer will help the automaker introduce fully autonomous cars.

“A successful launch of autonomous drive will require an enormous amount of computing power, as well as constant advances in artificial intelligence,” Samuelsson says in a statement. “Our agreement with NVIDIA is an important piece of that puzzle and helps us to safely introduce fully autonomous Volvo cars to our customers.”

The upcoming SPA 2 vehicle architecture is the next generation of Volvo Cars’ SPA modular vehicle architecture, which forms the basis of all 90 Series and 60 Series cars launched in recent years.

SPA 2 takes the modular SPA architecture’s existing advantages and adds next-generation technologies in areas such as electrification, connectivity and autonomous driving. The core computer plays a key role in this process and provides an easier route toward regular over-the-air software updates.