Uber to build driverless fleet with tens of thousands of Volvos cars
- Monday, November 20th, 2017
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Swedish multinational automaker Volvo has signed an agreement with Uber that will see the ride hailing company purchase ‘tens of thousands’ of self-driving cars between 2019 and 2021.
The non-exclusive agreement, which extends the partnership that the two formed back in August 2016, will see Uber get its hands on the base vehicles built on Volvo’s in-house scalable product architecture (SPA).
“The automotive industry is being disrupted by technology and Volvo Cars chooses to be an active part of that disruption,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive at Volvo. “Our aim is to be the supplier of choice for autonomous driving ride-sharing service providers globally. Today’s agreement with Uber is a primary example of that strategic direction.”
Volvo will work with Uber engineers to develop the XC90 standard utility vehicles (SUV) that Uber will eventually be supplied with. This base vehicle will also be used by Volvo to develop its own fully autonomous car in 2021.
“We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Volvo,” said Jeff Miller, head of auto alliances at Uber. “This new agreement puts us on a path towards mass produced self-driving vehicles at scale.”