Volvo Cars to supply autonomous cars to Uber

Swedish auto maker Volvo Cars, has signed an agreement with Uber to sell, ten 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).

SPA is used on Volvo Cars’ top-of-the-line 90 series cars as well as on the new XC60 midsize SUV.

The agreement enhances the 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.

Håkan Samuelsson, President and Chief Executive, 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 AD ride-sharing service providers globally”.

Volvo Cars’ engineers and engineers from Uber worked together to develop the XC90 premium SUVs which are to be supplied to Uber.

The base vehicles incorporate safety, redundancy and core autonomous driving technologies that are required for Uber to add its own self-driving technology.

Jeff Miller, Head of Auto Alliances, Uber , said “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.”

While 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