Volvo said Monday it would provide Uber with up to 24,000 of its flagship XC90 SUVs, which retail from around £50,000, equipped with autonomous technology as part of a non-exclusive deal from 2019 to 2021. Autonomous vehicles are seen as the logical next step for ride-hailing firms including Uber, which said it perceived the technology as an existential threat. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The announcement follows the news that Alphablet’s Waymo will launch the world’s first autonomous car service in the next few months in Arizona. Photograph: Eric Risberg/APShould Uber buy all 24,000 cars, it would be Volvo’s largest order by far and the biggest sale in the autonomous vehicle industry to date, giving Uber – losing more than $600m a quarter – its first commercial fleet of cars. Driving statistics released by analyst firm Edison Investment Research in April showed that Uber’s self-driving technology was 5,000 times worse than Waymo’s, ranking it the worst of six major self-driving car companies testing vehicles.

Source: The Guardian November 20, 2017 15:55 UTC