Doha Marketing Services Company (Domasco) has announced that Swedish car maker Volvo Cars and ride-sharing company Uber are joining 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 autonomous driving 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. The collaboration will involve Uber adding its own self-developed autonomous driving systems to the Volvo base vehicle. Volvo Cars and Uber are contributing a combined $300mn to the project.
Faisal Sharif, managing director of Domasco, the authorised distributor for Volvo cars in Qatar, said: “Volvo is a world leader in the development of active safety and autonomous drive technology and possesses unrivalled safety credibility. The alliance with Uber places Volvo at the heart of the current technological revolution in the automotive industry.”
Andrew Parrott, head of sales and marketing for Volvo – Domasco, said: “The Volvo-Uber project marks a significant step in the automotive business, underlining the way in which the global automotive industry is evolving in response to the advent of new technologies.