Uber headquarters in San Francisco. Photo: Eric Risberg / AP
Uber plans to buy up to 24,000 cars from Volvo in an effort to prepare a fleet of self-driving on-demand vehicles, per Reuters. The XC90s, equipped with autonomous technology and priced at $46,900 in the U.S., will be delivered between 2019 and 2021.
Why it matters: The move comes two weeks after Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google's parent Alphabet that is suing Uber over theft of its trade secrets, announced it was launching fully driverless taxis in a pilot program in Phoenix, Arizona — the first in the industry to do so.