Η Volvo και η Uber ανακοίνωσαν πως σύναψαν μια εταιρική σχέση 300 εκατομμυρίων δολαρίων, με την κάθε μια να δίνει το ποσό των 150 εκατ. δολαρίων. Σύμφωνα με τις δύο εταιρίες, η Uber θα αγοράσει οχήματα από την Volvo και έπειτα θα εγκαταστήσει το δικό της σύστημα αυτόματου πιλότου, για την κάλυψη συγκεκριμένων αναγκών της υπηρεσίας της. Η Volvo θα χρησιμοποιήσει τα οχήματα για το δικό της πρότζεκτ αυτόνομης οδήγησης, το οποίο βασίζεται σε ένα σχέδιο που θα περιλαμβάνει και την ύπαρξη οδηγού.
Το πρώτο από τα 100 XC90 έχει ήδη παραδοθεί στην Uber και θα μπορούσε να αναπτυχθεί στο στόλο της υπηρεσίας αυτό το φθινόπωρο, εάν δεν υπάρξουν μηχανικές δυσλειτουργίες, όπως δήλωσε ο εκπρόσωπος MoMo Zhou.
Όταν τα οχήματα τεθούν σε λειτουργία, δύο υπάλληλοι της Uber θα καθίσουν στα μπροστινά καθίσματα. Ένας εξ’αυτών, θα είναι έτοιμος να αναλάβει τον άμεσο έλεγχο του οχήματος, ενώ ο άλλος θα παρακολουθεί τον οδηγό και το όχημα και θα κρατά σημειώσεις σε έναν υπολογιστή, δήλωσε ο Zhou.
Η Volvo θα χρησιμοποιήσει το ίδιο βασικό όχημα για την επόμενη φάση της δικής της στρατηγικής στα αυτόνομα αυτοκίνητά της, η οποία θα περιλαμβάνει πλήρως αυτόνομη οδήγηση.
Η Uber δήλωσε ότι αγοράζει τα XC90 από τη Volvo και προσθέτει την αυτο-οδήγηση υλικού και λογισμικού που αναπτύχθηκε στο κέντρο τεχνολογίας του Πίτσμπουργκ, το οποίο άνοιξε μόλις πριν από 20 μήνες. Η Volvo θα παρέχει τεχνική υποστήριξη, όπου απαιτείται, με τον στόλο των αυτόνομων XC90 ίσως να είναι διαθέσιμος σε διάστημα μερικών εβδομάδων στην πόλη του Πίτσμπουργκ.
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Volvo Cars and Uber join forces to develop autonomous driving cars
Volvo Cars, the Swedish premium car maker, and Uber, the world’s leading ride-sharing company, are to join forces to develop next generation autonomous driving cars.
The two companies have signed an agreement to establish a joint project that will develop new base vehicles that will be able to incorporate the latest developments in AD technologies, up to and including fully autonomous driverless cars. The base vehicles will be manufactured by Volvo Cars and then purchased from Volvo by Uber. Volvo Cars and Uber are contributing a combined USD 300M to the project.
Both Uber and Volvo will use the same base vehicle for the next stage of their own autonomous car strategies. This will involve Uber adding its own self-developed autonomous driving systems to the Volvo base vehicle. Volvo will use the same base vehicle for the next stage of its own autonomous car strategy, which will involve fully autonomous driving.
The Volvo-Uber project marks a significant step in the automotive business with a car manufacturer joining forces with a new Silicon Valley-based entrant to the car industry, underlining the way in which the global automotive industry is evolving in response to the advent of new technologies. The alliance marks the beginning of what both companies view as a longer term industrial partnership.
Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, said: “Volvo is a world leader in the development of active safety and autonomous drive technology and possesses an unrivaled safety credibility. We are very proud to be the partner of choice for Uber, one of the world’s leading technology companies. This alliance places Volvo at the heart of the current technological revolution in the automotive industry.”
The new base vehicle will be developed on Volvo Cars’ fully modular Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). SPA is one of the most advanced car architectures in the world and is currently used on Volvo Cars’ top-of-the-line multiple award winning XC90 SUV, as well as the S90 premium sedan and V90 premium estate.
SPA has been developed as part of Volvo Cars’ USD11bn global industrial transformation programme, which started in 2010, and has been prepared from the outset for the latest autonomous drive technologies as well as next generation electrification and connectivity developments. It is these capabilities that attracted Uber to Volvo.
The development work will be conducted by Volvo Cars engineers and Uber engineers in close collaboration. This project will further add to the scalability of the SPA platform to include all needed safety, redundancy and new features required to have autonomous vehicles on the road.
Travis Kalanick, Uber’s chief executive, said: “over one million people die in car accidents every year. These are tragedies that self-driving technology can help solve, but we can’t do this alone. That’s why our partnership with a great manufacturer like Volvo is so important. Volvo is a leader in vehicle development and best-in-class when it comes to safety. By combining the capabilities of Uber and Volvo we will get to the future faster, together.”
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Volvo Car Group in 2015
For the 2015 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 6,620 MSEK (2,128 MSEK in 2014). Revenue over the period amounted to 164,043 MSEK (137,590 MSEK). For the full year 2015, global sales reached a record 503,127 cars, an increase of 8 per cent versus 2014. The record sales and operating profit cleared the way for Volvo Car Group to continue investing in its global transformation plan.
About Volvo Car Group
Volvo has been in operation since 1927. Today, Volvo Cars is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 503,127 in 2015 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) of China since 2010. It formed part of the Swedish Volvo Group until 1999, when the company was bought by Ford Motor Company of the US. In 2010, Volvo Cars was acquired by Geely Holding.
As of December 2015, Volvo Cars had almost 29,000 employees worldwide. Volvo Cars head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars head office for China is located in Shanghai. The company’s main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium), Chengdu and Daqing (China), while engines are manufactured in Skövde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China) and body components in Olofström (Sweden).
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