Global transportation company Uber has ordered 24,000 XC90 SUVs from Volvo in a bid to expand its fleet of driverless cars.
In an official announcement, Volvo said it has signed a non-exclusive framework agreement with Uber to produce the fleet of vehicles within the next four years. The cars, which will cost about $46,900 each, will be delivered in two batches, in 2019 and 2021.
Volvo adds that the base vehicles are developed on Volvo Cars' fully modular, in-house developed Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), the same one used for the company's top-of-the-line 90 series. "Our aim is to be the supplier of choice for AD ride-sharing service providers globally," said Volvo President and Chief Executive Håkan Samuelsson.
The driverless XC90's design and built are a joint project between both of the company's engineers, with the goal of creating base vehicles that feature autonomous driving but with all the necessary safety and redundancy marks.
According to Bloomberg, this move signifies Uber's strong commitment to self-driving cars despite the change of leadership, with newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi now at the helm.
This also marks the first commercial purchase by a ride-hailing provider, as more and more companies step up their efforts for human-less driving.
While Volvo will make the base vehicles, Uber is set to add its own sensors and software to permit autonomous driving. "The more people working on the problem, we'll get there faster and with better, safer, more reliable systems," said Uber Head of Auto Alliances Jeff Miller.
This is not Uber's first step to autonomous driving. Earlier this year, the ride-sharing company experimented on a small fleet of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, Arizona. This was, however, marred by controversy after one of the cars suffered a huge crash in March.
Meanwhile, Volvo plans to use the autonomous XC90 base model to launch its own fleet of self-driving cars by 2021.
