Uber orders 24,000 Volvo XC90s for driverless fleet

Volvo XC90s for driverless fleet

Uber has entered into an agreement with carmaker Volvo to buy 24,000 of its XC90 SUVs between 2019 and 2021 to form a fleet of autonomous vehicles, according to Bloomberg News. The XC90 is the base of Uber's latest-generation self-driving test car, which features sensors and autonomous driving computing capabilities installed by Uber after purchase on the XC90 vehicle.

The deal was said to be worth $ 1.4 billion, per the Financial Times, with the XC90 start at $ 46,900 in the U.S. in terms of base model consumer pricing Uber is already testing the XC90 in Arizona, San Francisco and Pittsburgh in trials with safety Uber also paired up with Volvo to jointly develop autonomous driving and a vehicle ready for self-driving implementation, with investment from both sides committed last year.

Uber's new fleet of XC90s will go further than the existing test vehicles, in that they will incorporate the redundant systems for braking and steering that will allow them to operate without a human safety driver on board. The 24,000 vehicle model is also subject to change, depending on Uber's needs Uber also paints the right to order vehicles from other OEMs to help contribute to its fleet as part of the deal.

Driverless rival Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous vehicle unit, recently announced plans to launch its own self-driving surveillance hailing service open to consumers, which could be part of the impetus behind Uber accelerating its own plans. Still, no timeline has been given from either company for when users can not access the services in a non-testing capacity.