Volvo, Ericsson to develop video streaming for driverless cars

The new Volvo S60 is seen during the Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai in this April 20, 2011 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

STOCKHOLM -- Automaker Volvo Cars and Swedish telecom giant Ericsson have teamed up to develop high-bandwidth video streaming in cars that drive themselves, the companies announced on Monday.

The streaming technology would allow car passengers to watch high-definition video content in places where mobile broadband connectivity is scarce, Volvo said in a press release sent out from Stockholm.

"By predicting your route and looking ahead at network conditions, content can be tailored to the duration of each trip and intelligently buffered to deliver a high quality and uninterrupted viewing experience," reads the statement.

The project, designed for cars capable of autonomous driving, was presented Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The system would also predict how much driving a given route would require of the passenger and adjust its content suggestions accordingly, Volvo said.

"With our future autonomous drive technology, we will provide people with the freedom to choose the way they would like to commute and the content they would like to experience," said Anders Tylman, general manager of Volvo's monitoring and concept center.

Volvo Cars, acquired by Chinese carmaker Geely from US giant Ford in 2010, reported an operating profit of 2.3 billion SEK ($270.53 million) in 2014.