Volvo will provide Uber with thousands of self-driving vehicles between 2019 and 2021, the automaker announced today.
The two companies have worked together to develop the XC90 crossovers that will join Uber’s fleet. Uber will add its own self-driving technologies to the vehicles that will have already been set up to accommodate such features.
The deal will involve as many as 24,000 self-driving vehicles, reports Reuters. If Volvo ends up supplying all of these to Uber, it will be the largest sale in the autonomous vehicle industry.
In August 2016, Volvo and Uber agreed to work together on self-driving cars. As part of the $300 million deal, the companies tested autonomous technologies on Volvo vehicles. The partnership will continue to be non-exclusive, and Uber has worked with other automakers including Toyota and Ford.
“This new agreement puts us on a path towards mass produced self-driving vehicles at scale,” Jeff Miller, head of Auto Alliances at Uber, said in a statement.
With the deal, Uber finally has some good news to spread. The company has been hit with a number of scandals and has been losing more than $600 million each quarter. It will still have to compete with Waymo and Lyft, which have formed a powerful alliance on self-driving car technology.
Meanwhile, Volvo will use the experience it gains working on the XC90s to further its own autonomous car strategy. In 2021, Volvo hopes to release its first fully autonomous car. That timeline is similar to those of other automakers including BMW, Ford, and Volkswagen.
Source: Volvo, Reuters
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