Nvidia and Continental said they’re partnering to create top-to-bottom artificial intelligence (AI) self-driving vehicle systems built on the Nvidia DRIVE platform, with a planned market introduction starting in 2021.

The partnership will enable the production of AI computer systems that scale from automated Level 2 features through full Level 5 self-driving capabilities, where the vehicle has no steering wheel or pedals, according to the companies.

“Dedicated engineering teams from each company will work together to develop self-driving solutions based on the Nvidia DRIVE platform – which includes Nvidia DRIVE Xavier, one of the world’s highest-performance systems-on-a-chip, as well as the Nvidia DRIVE OS (operating system) and DRIVE AV (autonomous vehicle) software stacks,” the companies said in a news release.

The solutions will utilize Continental’s experience in system and software engineering for ASIL-D rated safety – the highest rating level – and will integrate a range of Continental sensor technologies, including radar, camera and high-resolution 3-D lidar.

“The vehicle of the future will be a sensing, planning and acting computer on wheels,” Continental CEO Elmar Degenhart said. “The complexity of autonomous driving requires nothing less than the full computational horsepower of an AI supercomputer. Together with the performance and flexibility of Nvidia’s AI self-driving solution, from the cloud to the car we will achieve new levels of safety, comfort and personalization for future vehicles.”