Volvo Partners With Uber, Unleashes Self-Driving XC90s in Pittsburgh

Volvo is partnering with ride-hailing service Uber, a $300 million deal expected to spawn a fleet of self-driving vehicles on U.S. roads.

Both companies plan to develop their own autonomous technology using a Volvo “base” vehicle, but Pittsburgh will see a crop of self-driving Swedes by the end of the year, Automotive News reports.

As part of the agreement, Uber will outfit 100 XC90 plug-in SUVs with technology created at its Pittsburgh technology center. The company will test a slew of gadgetry — cameras, sensors, software, radar and lidar — as the vehicles drive themselves through the city. A new vehicle, built on Volvo’s modular Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), will test next-generation technologies at some point in the future.

Uber’s goal is to eventually do away with its drivers. Passengers would be picked up by a fleet of self-driving vehicles and dropped off at a programmed destination. No more small talk about the weather with a complete stranger.

Earlier this year, Fortune reported that Uber was using a specially outfitted Ford Fusion to map the city’s roads and test autonomous technology, but the automaker denied any partnership with the company.

The XC90s roaming around Pittsburg won’t be empty — due to regulations and safety concerns, Uber engineers will ride shotgun to keep an eye on things. Volvo plans to use the same vehicle for its own autonomous driving program.

“The alliance marks the beginning of what both companies view as a longer term industrial partnership,” the automaker said in a statement.

In a statement delivered to Automotive News, Uber said the company has the support of city leaders and law enforcement, otherwise the self-driving project would be a non-starter.

[Image: Volvo Car Corporation}