China-based Zhejiang Geely Holdings is tapping Zenuity, the joint venture between Volvo and Swedish technology company Veoneer, as its preferred driver assistance and autonomous vehicle software supplier for its range of car brands.
The decision means Zenuity’s software will likely end up in vehicles under the brands Geely Auto, Geometry, Volvo Cars, performance brand Polestar, British carmaker Lotus and the subscription-based automaker Lynk & Co. Geely Holdings’ total group sales last year were 2.15 million vehicles, according to the company.
The supplier partnership solidifies business for Zenuity as it goes up against more established players in the industry. And it also hints at where some of Geely’s car brands are headed.
Zenuity also confirmed Wednesday that it plans to provide software that will allow unsupervised driving for Volvo’s next generation of cars. Zenuity did not provide a timeline.
Geely Holdings acquired Volvo Cars in 2010 from Ford. Two years ago, Volvo and Autoliv-spinout Veoneer formed a joint venture called Zenuity, with a focus on developing self-driving vehicle software.
Zenuity plans to demonstrate Wednesday its ADAS technology in a moving vehicle for the first time to illustrate its commercial readiness. The demonstration, held in Detroit at Veoneer’s Tech Day, will put a vehicle equipped with camera-only automatic emergency braking through several accident scenarios. The system is designed to meet future European vehicle safety regulations coming in 2020 and 2022.
Earlier this year, Zenuity received approval to test self-driving Volvos on Swedish highways. The tests will be done by trained drivers, with their hands off the steering wheel at a maximum speed of 50 miles per hour.
