Volvo and Uber Join Forces

posted on 09/27/2016 by Volvo of Louisville

What do you get when you combine the world's largest car-sharing service with one of the world's premier luxury carmakers? Well, we're about to find out. Volvo and Uber have announced that they are entering into a partnership to develop autonomous or self-driving cars. The agreement establishes a joint partnership project designed to develop cars that will use the latest satellite and sensing tools to safely transport passengers without the need for a driver.

The partnership between the two companies required an equal investment of $300 million to start, with Volvo committing to design and build the base vehicles. These initial vehicles will be based on the XC90 SUV, and will be used by each company in testing their individual software and self-driving technologies.

The Future of Ride-Sharing?

Volvo and Uber have each been placing large bets on the success of autonomous vehicles. Volvo began seriously investing in autonomous drive technologies with the 2010 development of their Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), designed with autonomous driving in mind from the start. As for Uber, they clearly see the advantage of owning a fleet of vehicles that they can use to transport passengers without the need for drivers.

Volvo has a publicly stated goal of eliminating serious injuries and deaths in its vehicles by the year 2020. As part of this effort, self-driving vehicles that aren't subject to human errors or misjudgments will certainly be a move in the right direction. In providing a platform for Uber to test and design self-driving vehicle technology, Volvo is staking a claim in the future of ride-sharing.

H2 Tag: Already In Use

Uber has been testing self-driving vehicles in their preferred location of Pittsburgh since last year. In August they announced that some of the Volvo XC90 autonomous cars will be available to certain test passengers. These cars will initially be accompanied by a driver and a safety monitor in case there are any problems with software or technology—and also as a condition of their operation on public streets. We're excited to hear the results of that test soon.

Who Gets the Most Out of the Partnership?

With so much at stake in the self-driving vehicle race, you might be wondering who benefits the most from the partnership between Volvo and Uber. Well, Uber obviously gets to test out their technology and software without the need for building vehicles. In turn, Volvo gets to participate in a real-world test of their platform and technologies using the largest ride-sharing company as its case study. That sounds like a pretty evenly distributed set of benefits to us.

As for the future of autonomous vehicles, we're sure they are on the way—it's just a matter of time before they become the norm. Until then, we'll gladly continue to drive the latest Volvo cars and SUVs by ourselves. In fact, most everyone around here seems to prefer it that way.

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