Last August, Volvo and Uber signed a joint venture agreement that calls for the former developing base cars that would be used by the latter. Yet these aren’t ordinary Volvos, mind you. They are actually self-driving autonomous vehicles that would form part of Uber’s future plan to field its own kind of ride-sharing service using autonomous vehicle technology.
After the deal was signed, testing began in Pittsburgh, Pensylvania. Now, the two companies have begun further testing in the fine city of San Francisco, California, using no less than a specially-designed Volvo XC90 premium SUV.
The XC90 was sold to Uber by Volvo. Uber then put in its own hardware and software that would allow autonomous driving in and around the city. To meet safety requirements as well as monitor its progress, a technician will be on hand in the vehicle at all times. Plus, the only visible marking that this is a special vehicle is the roof-mounted control unit.
The latest round of testing is part of Volvo’s three-pronged strategy to develop self-driving cars that are safe—as safe as Vo’s own renowned reputation. One aspect of its plan is to field around 100 self-driving cars to be used by the public in and around Gothenburg, Sweden, in a project dubbed DriveMe. This will begin in January 2017.
The next part will see the formation of a new company, with safety technology firm Autoliv as its partner. The new venture aims to come up with safety hardware and software systems that will be sold to third party Original Equipment Manufacturers.
Finally, the third part of the plan focuses on coming up with a bse vehicle using the modular Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). This is the same vehicle platform used on the XC90, S90, and V90. It will be done in collaboration with Uber, who will utilize the said vehicle in the future.
If all goes well, you could be picked up by a driverless vehicle the next time you call for an Uber.
