Herb Gordon Volvo of Silver Spring, home to many a luxury Volvo vehicle including a Volvo XC70 near Columbia, MD, loves the fact that the Volvo brand is always thinking ahead. The latest example of the Volvo brand’s forward thinking is its decision to partner with Uber to develop the next generation of autonomous cars.
The two companies are combining to contribute $300M to a project that will see Volvo Cars and Uber working together to design, develop, and manufacture new vehicles integrated with cutting-edge autonomous driving (AD) technologies, ranging from partially-autonomous vehicles to fully-autonomous, driverless cars. The partnership calls for Volvo Cars to handle the manufacturing end, with Uber purchasing the end product.
Make no bones about it – both companies are interested in a long-term, mutually-rewarding industrial partnership. This joining up of two great automotive minds exemplifies the progressive direction in which AD development is moving – that is, through collaborations between automakers and Silicon Valley in which both parties can bring to bear their significant manufacturing and technological expertise.
The partnership between Uber and Volvo Cars will commence with each company using the same base vehicle for the next phase of autonomous car strategies. This base vehicle will be developed using Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), Volvo Cars’ world-class, next-generation platform, whose greatest achievement to-date is the multi-award-winning Volvo XC90 SUV. Uber will add its internally-conceived AD concepts to Volvo Cars’ base vehicle, which will then be progressively refined and enhanced until a fully AD vehicle is achieved.
Both companies well understand this partnership’s significance, with Hakan Samuelsson, President and Chief Executive of Volvo Cars, saying “This alliance places Volvo at the heart of the current technological revolution in the automotive industry.”
Exciting times are ahead – visit our Silver Spring, MD Volvo dealership for more information!
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