Volvo Cars has appointed Ödgärd Andersson as the new chief executive of its autonomous drive (AD) software development company, which is called Zenseact.
The appointment of Ödgärd Andersson, currently chief digital officer at Volvo Cars, will come into effect on November 1. Zenseact was formed recently as a new entity wholly owned by Volvo Cars, following the split-up of Volvo Cars’ joint venture company with Veoneer.
Zenseact will focus on the development of AD and active safety software. It employs around 600 people and has offices in Gothenburg, Sweden and Shanghai, China.
Before her role as chief digital officer, Ödgärd Andersson was responsible for software development at Volvo Cars, including autonomous drive. This background makes her the perfect candidate to lead this next phase of development for Zenseact.
“Autonomous drive is the engineering challenge of the century and we’re facing it head-on,” said Ödgärd Andersson. “Joining Zenseact at this time is exciting as we accelerate development and gear up to deliver software that will allow the first cars to safely drive themselves in a few years.”
Zenseact’s first delivery will be technology for Volvo Cars’ next generation modular scalable architecture, SPA 2, including the Highway Pilot, an unsupervised autonomous drive function for motorways.
Apart from the appointment of Ödgärd Andersson, Volvo Cars has also changed the composition of the board of directors for Zenseact. It has appointed Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo Cars, as new Chairman of the board. Both appointments underline the importance Volvo Cars places on the development of safe AD technology.
“Volvo Cars believes autonomous drive will revolutionise road safety and we are committed to introduce the technology in our next generation cars,” said Håkan Samuelsson.
In light of Ödgärd Andersson’s new role, Henrik Green will step in as interim chief digital officer, in addition to his responsibilities as chief technology officer and head of the Product Creation business area, while recruitment for Ödgärd Andersson’s replacement is ongoing.
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Volvo Car Group in 2019
For the 2019 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 14.3 BSEK (14.2 BSEK in 2018). Revenue over the period amounted to 274.1 BSEK (252.7 BSEK). For the full year 2019, global sales reached a record 705,452 (642,253) cars, an increase of 9.8 per cent versus 2018. The results underline the comprehensive transformation of Volvo Cars’ finances and operations in recent years, positioning the company for its next growth phase.
About Volvo Car Group
Volvo Cars was founded in 1927. Today, it is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 705,452 cars in 2019 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding since 2010.
In 2019, Volvo Cars employed on average approximately 41,500 (41,500) full-time employees. Volvo Cars head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars head office for APAC is located in Shanghai. The company’s main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium), South Carolina (US), Chengdu and Daqing (China), while engines are manufactured in Skövde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China) and body components in Olofström (Sweden).
Under its new company purpose, Volvo Cars aims to provide customers with the Freedom to Move in a personal, sustainable and safe way. This purpose is reflected into a number of business ambitions: for example, by the middle of this decade it aims for half of its global sales to be fully electric cars and to establish five million direct consumer relationships. Volvo Cars is also committed to an ongoing reduction of its carbon footprint, with the ambition to be a climate-neutral company by 2040.
