Volvo To Supply Thousands Of Autonomous XC90s To Uber

Swedish carmaker Volvo has signed an agreement with American ride sharing company Uber to sell tens of thousands of autonomous driving-compatible vehicles within a span of two years - between 2019 and 2021. The vehicle in question is Volvo’s flagship SUV, the XC90, which has been specifically developed by engineers from both the companies. 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.

This non-exclusive agreement enhances the strategic partnership between Volvo Cars and Uber that was announced in August 2016. The XC90 is built on Volvo Cars’ Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform, which also underpins all top of the line 90 series cars and as well as the new midsize XC60 SUV.

Upon signing this agreement with Uber, Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO, Volvo Cars, said, “The automotive industry is being disrupted by technology and Volvo Cars chooses to be an active part of that disruption. Our aim is to be the supplier of choice for autonomous drive ride-sharing service providers globally. Today’s agreement with Uber is a primary example of that strategic direction.”

Jeff Miller, head of auto alliances, Uber, shared his thoughts by saying, “We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Volvo. This new agreement puts us on a path towards mass produced self-driving vehicles at scale.”

Volvo has also confirmed that it will use the same base vehicle which is being supplied to Uber to run more research and development and carve out its own independent autonomous car strategy. The same is planned to hit the open streets in 2021 in the form of Volvo’s first fully autonomous car.