Uber Cuts a Deal with Volvo

Speculation has been part of the self-driving car industry. At the moment, no one can tell how the future of this industry will look like. At the same, no one can really tell how long it will take humanity to get a fully functional self-driving car. However, no major player in the industry wants to be left behind. Everyone is preparing for that fateful day when dreams will become a reality and the autonomous vehicles will rule. Some of the companies have invested heavily in this technology include Uber. The American company announced on Monday that it had reached a deal with auto manufacturer Volvo. This is a deal that is related to autonomous vehicles. The deal involved an agreement by Uber to acquire over 24,000 self-driving cars from the automaker when the industry materializes. These vehicles will be used by the ride-hailing network to ferry its customers. This information was further confirmed by Jeff Miller. For starters, this is the executive who is in charge of a department in Uber known as automotive alliances. He is the president. He said that the company was working day and night to ensure that autonomous vehicles become a reality. He, however, said that he was not sure about how the industry would look like when it becomes a reality. Nonetheless, he said that Uber doesn’t want to be out of the equation when that day comes.

The New York Times learned that the deal was just a continuation of an earlier agreement. The only difference is that the deal had been signed two years ago under different circumstances. Uber was just beginning its research when it comes to autonomous vehicles. Since then, Uber has formed a partnership with a third party company where the deal is to develop a hardware as well as software that will be used for Volvo vehicles. The two companies agreed that the software and hardware would be tried out using Volvo’s XC90 vehicles. The latest deal is seen as an indication of the ambition that Uber has when it comes to driverless cars. At the same time, the deal increases the number of vehicles that Volvo would have to produce. Volvo is a European based company that operates from Sweden. Nonetheless, the company was recently acquired by Geely Automobile Holdings. This is a Chinese holding company. In a joint statement, the two companies announced that they would part with $300 million that will be used for the project.