Uber unveils new Volvo car with self-driving hardware

[diplomat33]

Uber unveiled a Volvo XC90 with new self-driving hardware.

Here is the interesting part:
"This new third-generation vehicle presented at Uber Elevate Summit has steering and braking systems designed for computer, rather than human control, as well as a new array of sensors atop and built into the vehicle. It’s an important step as well as a revelatory one that shows the company’s previous iterations never had a chance to become truly driverless because they lacked these critical backup systems.

The vehicle has redundancies such as fail operational braking, steering and backup power built into the Volvo base vehicle on the manufacturing line, basic requirements if Uber ever hopes to pull the human safety driver out of the car. If any of the primary systems should fail for some reason, the backup systems immediately act to bring the car to a stop."
https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/12/u...ng-vehicle-in-a-step-toward-robotaxi-service/

The hardware certainly sounds great, especially the redundancy part. But what about the software? Also, Uber's plan to start in cities and expand out, might not be aggressive enough. It could take years to ramp up to a significant presence across the US. In that time, the competition is not going to sit idly by.

 

[Eno Deb]

The most interesting aspect of this news is IMO that Volvo delivers what they call "autonomous drive ready" cars from the factory. That includes 360 degree cameras and ultrasonics (the cameras even have little washers), redundant control systems, path-based motion control and other base functions for autonomous vehicles. This is clearly not just meant for Uber's test vehicles, but also for their own future ADAS and self-driving systems.

 

[CarlK]

Let me make a bold, or not so bold, prediction. Uber will never be able to pull "safety engineer" off the car. It's nothing but an expensive marketing ploy trying to convince the Wall Street it's still in the game. Like you said how could they develop necessary software by doing monkey business like this? I still remember some years ago the then Uber CEO Kalanick said if Uber is not among the first to come up with self driving car it will not exist as a business. It looks pretty bleak with that prediction.

 

[electronblue]

Impressive solution from Volvo for the camera cleaning question. Thanks for pointing it out @Eno Deb.