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Uber Expands Driverless-Car Push With Deal For 24,000 Volvos (bloomberg.com)
Uber agreed to buy 24,000 sport utility vehicles from Volvo to form a fleet of driverless autos. According to Bloomberg, "The XC90s, priced from $46,900 at U.S. dealers, will be delivered from 2019 to 2021 in the first commercial purchase by a ride-hailing provider." Uber will add its own sensors and software to permit pilot-less driving. From the report: Uber's order steps up efforts to replace human drivers, the biggest cost in its on-demand taxi service. The autonomous fleet is small compared with the more than 2 million people who drive for Uber but reflects dedication to the company's strategy of developing self-driving cars. "This new agreement puts us on a path toward mass-produced, self-driving vehicles at scale," Jeff Miller, Uber's head of auto alliances, told Bloomberg News. "The more people working on the problem, we'll get there faster and with better, safer, more reliable systems."
Not to mention whom to hit in a pinch. The child crossing the street, the ambulance, a lamp post, or the school bus?
The obstacles are legal as well as engineering -- the above is a valid question. Humans can be assigned responsibility as the courts see fit. Autonomous cars will need specific rules of some type.
Also, why Volvo XC-90s? Seems a waste to have a 300 hp guzzle-wagon in an application that will primarily require it to obey traffic laws in a city religiously. Better off with Priuses or even straight electric cars.