Geely taps Autoliv, Zenuity to develop ADAS system for Level 3 autonomy

Swedish safety systems supplier Autoliv and its software joint venture Zenuity have been selected by Chinese automaker Geely to develop advanced driver assistance systems to support Level 3 autonomous driving in China.

Level 3 is conditional autonomy, meaning the car controls itself in most situations but requires the driver to take back control at any point.

"I'm not a big fan of these definitions of different levels ... the software that we do, is that we either design software for supervised automation or unsupervised automation," Erik Coelingh, Zenuity's head of technology, told Automotive News. "That's a much more relevant distinction."

In this project, Autoliv will provide radar systems and mono-vision and stereo vision camera systems, as well as ADAS electronic control units.

Zenuity, an autonomous driving software company formed by Volvo Cars and Autoliv, will develop the software for active safety systems and a feature that allows a driver to "drive in an unsupervised way in traffic jams under certain conditions," Coelingh said.

Last year, Geely granted Autoliv a 77 GHz high-resolution radar contract and a mono-vision camera system contract for autonomous driving.

"We think that even in your private car, there is a lot benefit of having some form of automation," he said. "A traffic jam is a typical scenario where driving is not a lot of fun and where it would be great to have the car drive autonomously."

A spokesperson for Geely did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the project. Geely, headed by Chairman Li Shufu, is growing in its international clout with its $8.6 billion investment in Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler. Geely now controls a nearly 10 percent stake in Daimler.

Autoliv, known most for supplying airbags and seat belts, ranks No. 23 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide parts sales to automakers of $10.07 billion in 2016.