Uber’s self-driving Volvo cars arrive in San Francisco

Volvo and Uber have expanded their joint self-driving pilot programme to San Francisco, California, allowing customers there to be ferried around by autonomous driving Volvo XC90s, with an Uber technician on board to oversee the car’s operation.

“The promise of self-driving ride sharing is becoming a reality. Volvo is proud to be at the forefront of the latest developments in the automotive world alongside our partners at Uber,” said Marten Levenstam, vice president of product planning at Volvo Cars.

Similar to the testing done in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Volvo supplies the XC90s to Uber, where the ride-hailing company adds its own self-driving hardware and software package. Unlike the company’s other autonomous taxi – the Ford Fusion Hybrid (Mondeo), the placement of the sensors and cameras are a little more inconspicuous by comparison.

The Verge has prepared a short video that demonstrates just what it’s like to ride inside one of the self-driving Volvos, which as you can tell, will require some human input from time to time. However, the knowledge gained from this pilot programme will allow Uber to enhance its technology, and minimise or remove the need for a human on board the car in the future.

Away from Uber, Volvo is developing its own autonomous driving technologies, with its Drive Me project expected to start in January next year. The world’s largest autonomous driving test will involve 100 cars that will be given to the public to be driven around Gothenburg, Sweden.

Volvo will also set up a jointly-owned company with automotive safety technology firm, Autoliv, to design and manufacture autonomous driving and driver assistance software technology packages for sale to third party OEMs. The new company is expected to begin operations in 2017, with a workforce of around 200, increasing to over 600 in the future.

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