Volvo reveals new robo-taxi in race to autonomy
Volvo reveals new robo-taxi in race to autonomy
By Esha Vaish SEPTEMBER 5, 2018 / 3:42 AM / UPDATED 11
HOURS AGO
GOTHENBURG (Reuters) - Volvo Cars presented a fully
electric robo-taxi on Wednesday, as the Geely-owned Swedish company races to
meet an ambitious target for driverless vehicle sales with its Uber supply deal
on hold.
Besides city driving, Volvo said the 360c would extend
its customer base by tapping into demand from inter-city taxi passengers
traveling as far as 300 km (186 miles), allowing it to challenge short-haul
airlines and train operators.
Volvo, which is weighing a stock market listing, is
trying to make headway in self-driving cars as a mid-size luxury player with
more limited resources than a BMW or Audi. It expects autonomous cars to
account for a third of sales by 2025, with fully electric cars claiming 50
percent.
The world’s largest automakers are developing new types
of vehicle such as self-driving passenger shuttles as they look to capture new
markets in which direct car sales dwindle as fewer people own them.
Tech companies such as Uber and Alphabet’s Waymo are
pouring billions of dollars into autonomous car development, while auto
manufacturers such as Daimler are testing prototypes.
Few details have yet been announced, however, a year
before Daimler and partner Bosch are due to deploy robo-taxis in California’s
Silicon Valley.
So far, Volvo’s self-driving ambitions have been closely
linked with Uber, which was operating a fleet of autonomous Volvo XC90s until a
recent fatal collision with a pedestrian brought the program to a halt.
Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said the Uber
partnership remained intact, with Volvo set to supply up to 24,000 cars to the
startup over two years.
Samuelsson, speaking to journalists at the launch, said
the company was in talks to deliver an autonomous car specially designed for
Uber’s driverless program as it sees ride-hailing as the right way for Volvo to
make good on its promise to deliver its first autonomous car by the 2020s.
“This is a product where we see interest from
ride-hailing businesses,” Samuelsson said.
R&D head Henrik Green said that Uber was “up and
running” with its program again, albeit with humans in the driving seat, and
was testing to collect data.
BLUE FOR AUTONOMOUS
The 360c prototype shown on Wednesday combines the size
of Volvo’s flagship XC90 luxury SUV with an updated design that features
all-round blue light panels to show that it is an autonomous car.
Head of product strategy Marten Levenstam said 360c
robo-taxis could be competitive with short-haul flights and be sold to airlines
such as such as Lufthansa, SAS and United Airlines.
The market is watching Volvo’s plans for the future
following speculation that the company is preparing for a listing this year.
Geely, its Chinese parent, has hired three investment
banks for an initial public offering that could value Volvo at $16-$30 billion,
a person familiar with the matter has told Reuters. The top end of that range
values Volvo at a higher multiple than any of the other traditional car
companies.
Samuelsson has said the company remains focused on
meeting the challenges of electric and self-driving cars and has the funds to
do so with or without a stock market flotation
He declined on Wednesday to comment on the timing or
valuation in any IPO.
Reporting by Esha Vaish in Stockholm; editing by Georgina
Prodhan, Jason Neely and Jane Merriman
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