Volvo sets new goal for autonomous cars
Volvo is betting on the future of autonomous cars being big. The Scandinavian carmaker believes that driverless vehicles will make up one-third of its deliveries by the middle of the next decade.
They are now setting the auto industry's most ambitious target yet for the new autonomous technology. Half of the cars the Swedish company offers will be available through its subscription service, creating links to more than 5 million consumers and generating new sources of revenue.
The company reiterated a target to match other luxury automakers' profit margins, saying sales growth will be propelled in part by demand from robotaxi operators. Volvo CEO, Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement.
"These initiatives will help transform Volvo from being purely a car company to being a direct consumer-services provider,"
The automaker was formerly the auto unit of truck manufacturer Volvo AB and is now owned by Chinese billionaire Li Shufu's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.
Driverless vehicles are still fairly new and in the early stages of development and recently the progress has been hampered by a string of fatal accidents. Even so, tech companies and established car manufacturers, such as Alphabet's Waymo and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, are joining forces, and the UK announced a strategy this week to back projects.
While several automakers have included robotaxis in their planned future lineups, Volvo is the first prominent global automaker to set a target for deliveries. Its sales rose 7 percent last year to 571,577 vehicles.
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