Ride-hailing service Uber is making big moves as it revealed its newest self-driving car on Wednesday, 12th June 2019. They are partnering with car makers, Volvo to produce the new line of vehicles. Volvo’s existing XC90 vehicles are specifically for Uber’s self-driving line of cars.

 

The new model is internally called the 519G. It comes with computerised brakes and factory set steering system.

 

 

In the past, Uber had modified the existing XC90s for self-driving cars. They did not come with these new features as the new ones.

 

Uber says that the new XC90s are safer and more reliable. They have radar and ultrasonic sensing that facilitate automatic driving.

 

According to the company promo, the new XC90 will still have standard brakes and steering wheels for humans.

 

The acceptable standard practice for self-driving cars is for them to still be usable by humans. The technology that supports completely automated cars is yet to be fully developed.

 

 

The Group head of Uber Advanced Technology, Eric Meyhofer, said that the company plans to test completely automated cars. He spoke on their plan to have a vehicle that will have no human drivers in the near future. They, however, confirmed that they need to earn the trust of the public before doing that.

 

Uber had slowed down on its self-driving ambitions for a while. This was following an incident where a car hit and killed a pedestrian in Arizona, USA in 2018.

 

This is probably why they see the need to re-earn the trust of people.