This is the Autonomous Volvo XC90 which, one day, won’t need a ‘Mission Specialist’

Volvo has revealed the first XC90 heading for Uber to be used as a fully autonomous taxi, although it doesn’t feature Volvo’s own autonomous driving systems.

Eighteen months ago, Volvo revealed it had signed a deal with Uber to deliver ‘tens of thousands’ of XC90 models suitable for Uber to bolt on its own autonomous capabilities. And this is it.

It’s not the best-looking XC90 you’ll ever see with its bolt-on Uber gubbins on the roof, but it’s the first production car to be delivered with the aim of driving without the aid of a driver.

We don’t actually get any details of what the roof bar contains – Volvo just say it has ‘an array of sensors’ – but they do say it has an array of back-up systems which will activate and bring the XC90 to a safe halt if the primary systems fail. Which is a little reassuring.

Volvo also say that this new autonomous XC90 will one day be able to do without a ‘Mission Specialist’ at the wheel (that’s a driver to you and me).

Uber’s take is that this new XC90 will be even safer than its current fleet of some 250 XC90s (although one of those was involved in a fatal accident last year) and will be replacing those older models.

This new XC90 developed for Uber will also be the basis of Volvo’s first autonomous XC90s, which are set to launch in the next few years and will be able to drive autonomously in Geo-defined areas.