Uber's Autonomous Driving System Integrated into Volvo's Base Vehicle

Uber and Volvo Cars entered into a contract for joint technology development in 2016 to realize autonomous driving early. Since then, they have developed several prototype vehicles. Now, the first production car integrating Uber's autonomous driving system into Volvo's platform has been unveiled.

The base vehicle, the "XC90," is equipped with safety features to easily integrate Uber's autonomous driving system. In the future, it aims to provide autonomous ride-hailing services via autonomous vehicles within the Uber network.

Key features of the autonomous vehicle include multiple backup systems for steering and braking functions, and backup power from the battery. Volvo states that if the primary system fails, a backup system will immediately activate to bring the vehicle to a stop.

In addition to this backup system designed by Volvo, a suite of sensors on the vehicle is designed to enable safe driving in urban environments using Uber's autonomous driving system.

Håkan Samuelsson, CEO of Volvo Cars, commented, "We expect that within the next five years, one-third of all cars sold by Volvo will be fully autonomous." Volvo plans to adopt a similar autonomous driving base vehicle concept for its next-generation models, aiming for the introduction of autonomous driving in the early 2020s.