Volvo XC90

Uber is buying up to 24,000 Volvo XC90 SUVs for its self-driving fleet

Technology

Uber will buy up to 24,000 Volvo XC90s, to form a fleet of driverless vehicles, reports Bloomberg. The XC90, that start at $45,750, is delivered between 2019 and 2021. the base vehicles feature core autonomous driving technologies which will enable Uber to add its own automation features yet, Volvo says. “This new agreement puts us on a path towards mass-produced self-driving vehicles at scale,” Jeff Miller, head of car alliances at Uber said in a statement.

Volvo said engineers from both corporations developed the XC90 premium SUVs provided to Uber. Uber will be spotted testing it is self-driving Volvo XC90 SUVs before in Pittsburgh, and also the company has a strategic partnership with Volvo since Aug 2016. Uber also includes a little fleet of self-driving Ford Fusions.

Volvo is also planning to release it own 1st fully autonomous car in 2021, and can also use the same base model vehicle in development. “The automotive industry is being disrupted by technology and Volvo Cars choose to be an active a part of that disruption,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo in a statement. “Our aim is to be the supplier of choice for AD ride-sharing service providers globally.”

Uber has suffered through a number of problems in developing its automated cars. The company’s self-driving cars in Arizona got into a pretty serious crash in March this year. the company also launched a self-driving Uber service in San Francisco in Dec 2016, but that got yanked shortly after because the company failed to properly register its fleet of sixteen vehicles. Emails showed that Uber dismissed warnings about that self-driving test for months. to add more pain, Google’s Waymo, which accused it of stealing key self-driving tech for its vehicles, and that case is about to head to trial. Waymo also became the first company to place a fully self-driving vehicle on us roads without a safety driver earlier this month, pipping Uber to the post.

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