Volvo has joined forces with Uber to co-develop new autonomous vehicle technology.
The companies have contributed a combined $300 million (nearly £228m) to the project.
Volvo to supply 24,000 self-driving XC90s to Uber
The partnership will have Uber make use of Volvo's autonomous systems in a fleet of driverless taxis which will hit the roads later this year.
Uber's 100-strong fleet will be made up of Volvo Volvo XC90s in Pittsburgh, USA, equipped with driverless tech but featuring a human in the driver's seat to monitor progress. Uber customers can call the cars in the same way they would a regular Uber taxi by using the smartphone app.
Volvo's role in the partnership will help it speed up development of its own production autonomous vehicle. The company has long emphasised its interest in working towards an autonomous future, but it believes retaining the option for human control is important in its production cars.
Earlier this year Volvo CEO HÃ¥kan Samuelsson said his company has no plans “to have a car that could drive in urban environments from A to B”, and instead is only concerned in offering autonomous modes for situations “where it’s not really fun to drive”.
Volvo's future autonomous vehicles will therefore feature software focused on motorway driving instead of urban driving.
If all goes to plan, Volvo will bring an autonomous model to market in 2021.
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