The Swedish premium car maker is set to supply tens of thousands of autonomous driving-compatible base vehicles between 2019 and 2021 in a non exclusive agreement to enhance the strategic partnership between Volvo Cars and Uber.
Marking a new chapter in collaborations between car makers and tech companies, the vehicles will be based on Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), one of the most advanced car architectures in the world currently seen in top-of-the-line 90 series cars as well as the new XC60 mid-size SUV.
“The automotive industry is being disrupted by technology, and Volvo Cars chooses to be an active part of that disruption,” said President and Chief Executive of Volvo Cars,Håkan Samuelsson. “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’s engineers have been working closely with engineers from Uber to develop the XC90 SUVs that will be supplied to the ride-sharing service. They will be incorporated with the safety features and core autonomous-driving technologies required for Uber to supplement with their own self-driving technology. Volvo will also use the same base vehicles to speed up its efforts to release its first fully autonomous car by 2021.
