We are getting closer to the moment when taxi’s will no longer be driven by humans. The taxi companies will use autonomous vehicles for clients. Uber is one of the big names who takes this very seriously.
Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has signed a framework agreement with Uber, the ride sharing company, to sell tens of thousands of autonomous driving compatible base vehicles between 2019 and 2021.
The base vehicles are developed on Volvo Cars’ fully modular, in-house developed Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), currently used on Volvo Cars’ top-of-the-line 90 series cars as well as on the new XC60 midsize SUV.
The non-exclusive agreement enhances the strategic partnership between Volvo Cars and Uber announced in August 2016 and also marks a new chapter in the convergence of car makers and Silicon Valley-based technology companies.
Volvo Cars’ engineers have worked closely together with engineers from Uber to develop the XC90 premium SUVs that are to be supplied to Uber. The base vehicles incorporate all necessary safety, redundancy and core autonomous driving technologies that are required for Uber to add its own self-driving technology.
At the same time as providing Uber with AD compatible cars, Volvo will use the same base vehicle in the development of its own independent autonomous car strategy, which is planned to culminate in the release of its first fully autonomous car in 2021.
