Thursday, August 18, 2016

Volvo invests in unmanned Uber-Cars – Västerbotten Courier

Economy. Test models of unmanned Uber cars, based on the Volvo XC90, starts operating on the streets of Pittsburgh, USA, in a few weeks. They are part of a billion between Uber and Volvo Cars.

Facts

Volvo Cars, which had 29,000 employees at year-end, owned since 2010 by the Chinese Zhejiang Geely Holding. Sales last year totaled just over 503 000 cars in 100 countries and the company expects to beat that record this year.

The company’s manufacturing plant is located in Gothenburg, Ghent (Belgium) and Chengdu and Daqing (China). Engine production takes place in Skövde and Zhangjiakou (China), while there are also body manufacturing in Olofström.

Source: Volvo Cars

Volvo Cars has already delivered half a dozen modified XC90 to the venture. To the end of the year, an additional approximately 100 XC90 cars have been delivered to the project.

The investment in Pittsburgh takes place within the framework of a project in which the two companies will jointly invest approximately SEK 2.5 billion in the development of driverless cars. It can spread to other US cities and beyond to Europe, according to a spokesman for Volvo Cars.

Genuine driverless

Uber aim, within the framework of the project to develop a truly driverless taxi, but in the test models that are now taken to the streets in the United States is a driver that monitor runs.

for private Volvo Consumers will take probably five years before the project results in new car models with the ability to the next level of autonomous driving .

– But it will always have a driver involved, says the spokesperson.

in short, it will move on Volvo cars where on certain routes, regulated by authorities is going to release the steering wheel and remove your feet from the pedals. That compares with current Volvo models with the possibility of so-called autonomous driving, where there are time limits on how long the driver to abandon the controls.

On XC90 cars that Uber is about to take out on the road in Pittsburgh the company installed proprietary equipment with sensors, cameras, laser measurement, radar systems and gPS receivers.

“We are proud to Uber chose us as their partner. They are one of the world’s leading technology companies. The partnership puts Volvo amid the ongoing technology revolution for the automotive industry, “writes Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement.

Safer Traffic

übers CEO Travis Kala Nick sees himself passing cars as an important step towards a safer traffic.

“Over a million people die in car accidents every year. These tragic circumstances, self-driving automobile technology to help solve, but we can not do it themselves, “he writes in the press release.

Other big automakers have made similar bets. Japan’s Toyota Motor has invested directly in Uber, while the German Volkswagen has indicated that it will support the rival Gett, reports Reuters.

The American General Motors for its part has invested in a share of the Uber competitor Lift, whereas Tesla Motors have invested in the development of automatic control for highway driving.

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