Volvo is hoping to aggressively expand its self-driving car program by putting 100 autonomous cars on the roads of China, the most ambitious program of its kind in the country to date.

The experiment would allow Chinese drivers to test the cars on public roads in everyday conditions as well as on expressways and highways in limited conditions, the company said in a statement. However, in order to conduct this massive experiment, Volvo will first need to find a Chinese city with the necessary regulations and infrastructure that can accommodate the self-driving cars as well as secure authorization from Chinese officials.

Acquired by Zhejiang Geely Holding of China in 2010, Volvo has not said when it expects to implement their experiment.

China Daily quotes an unnamed Volvo executive familiar with the project saying the company “wants to send a message to the Chinese government to ‘step up to the plate’ to make good its often ‘strident’ pledges of commitment to autonomous driving technology made in recent months.”

Volvo has already announced its DriveMe program will put 100 of its self-driving XC90 cars on Swedish roads next year. The cars will be leased to ordinary drivers located in Volvo’s home city of Gothenburg. The cars will be used on a controlled 31-mile route for commuting “in real traffic in a real situation,” said the company.

As competition in this future market heats up between Western companies like Google and General Motors, Chinese companies have also thrown their hat in the ring by conducting their own self-driving car tests.

Last December, Baidu and BMW collaborated on a successful 30 kilometer run of its own self-driving car on the highways of Beijing. Meanwhile, Chinese bus manufacturer Yutong conducted a test of a self-driving bus that successfully drove 32.6 kilometers from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng by itself.