Uber Hand In Hand With Volvo To Release New Generation Of Self Driving Cars

According to Reuters, Uber released a generation of Volvo autopilot in Washington on Wednesday.            

Uber said the new XC90 will be assembled by Volvo Cars in Sweden and equipped with human control devices such as steering wheel and brake pedal. But Uber also points out that the car will be equipped with steering and braking systems designed specifically for computers, not human drivers.            

Previously, Uber had purchased about 250 Volvo XC90 SUVs and adapted them for automatic driving.            

Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber Advanced Technology Services (ATG), said the new cars (with internal code of 519G, which was developed several years ago) were safer and more reliable, replacing the old ones in the Uber fleet "very quickly".            

"These new cars are about to go into production," Mehoff said. The new car is also equipped with a number of backup systems for steering and braking functions, as well as battery backup power and a new network security system.            

Mehoff also said Uber was not prepared to deploy the vehicles without human control. "We are still in a real mixed state," he said. "It is impossible to deploy thousands of autopilot cars into a city overnight. It will be a slow process."            

The new XC90 is equipped with an internal fisheye camera to scan for lost items. These vehicles don't have skylights because large sensors are installed on the roof. In addition, the new car is equipped with self-closing doors to prevent unsafe alighting.            

When asked if Uber would deploy autopilot cars without human drivers in limited areas in the next few years, Hof gave a positive answer. But he added that Uber wanted to gain the trust of the public and regulators before making a deployment business decision.            

"We predict that in the next five years or so, we will have about 1/3 of all cars sold in the next year or so," Volvo Samuelsson CEO Hakan Samuelson (Hakan) said.            

Volvo is owned by China Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, which plans to introduce its first commercialized auto-driving technology in the early 1920s using a similar concept of self-driving basic vehicles.