Sweden's Volvo is joining forces with Nvidia to develop artificial intelligence used in self-driving trucks, in a boost for the US chipmaker that was ditched by Tesla last year.

The agreement announced on Tuesday by Nvidia and Volvo, the world's second-biggest truckmaker after Daimler, is a long-term partnership spanning several years. Work will begin immediately in Gothenburg, Sweden and Santa Clara, California.

Volvo, which demonstrated its first autonomous truck last year, said the partnership would develop a flexible, scalable self-driving system, which is planned to be used first in pilot schemes before commercial deployment.

“The resulting system is designed to safely handle fully autonomous driving on public roads and highways,” Volvo said in a statement. – Reuters