Uber buys 24 thousand Volvo unmanned vehicles

On November 20, 2017 Uber  announced up to 24 thousand acquisition unmanned vehicles Volvo, thereby having designated the transition from a format only of mobile application for a taxi call in the operator of own vehicle fleet.

Volvo, belonging to the Chinese  company Geely, will provide  to Uber  the flagman  XC90 crossovers supplied with the system of pilotless driving during 2019-2021.

Uber  began to test prototypes of the self-governed machines Volvo  in 2016. Tests take place in Speed (State of Arizona) and Pittsburgh.   The division of Uber Advanced Technologies Group works on an autopilot system which will be used in the Volvo cars. 

The Volvo XC90 crossover with an auto pilot which tests Uber

If the company purchases 24 thousand cars, this one-time order will become the biggest for  Volvo and also the largest commercial transaction in the industry of UAVs. Financial contract details are not disclosed. Starting retail price of Volvo XC90  in the USA is  about $50 thousand (data for November 20, 2017).

Purchase of Volvo unmanned vehicles reflects considerable transition of Uber from a former business model on which contract drivers  of Uber  bought or rented and serviced the cars. According to the head of automobile  alliances Uber  Jeff Miller, a small amount of cars will be purchased at the expense of equity of the company, the rest will be purchased by attraction of the credits.

The transaction is based on  alliance worth $300 million which  Volvos  and  Uber announced  in 2016, having placed emphasis on cooperation in development of design and financing of cars with auto pilots, the using different sensors and also steering and brake design features.^[1] 

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