Volvo looking to bolster its safety reputation with Luminar’s solutions

In the automotive world, Volvo is known for vehicles that pay special attention to robustness and customer safety without making sacrifices in terms of design. Now, the company is looking to extend their well-earned reputation further by introducing a new suite of safety tools that are meant to give Volvo drivers even more peace of mind while on the road.

The suite will come as an optional package whose features can be turned on or off

To facilitate this, the car manufacturer will partner with tech startup Luminar, whose primary orientation is one towards self-driving vehicles. However, Volvo appears to be turning to the Luminar’s self-driving technology as more of a driving assist. The first model to include Luminar’s technology will be XC90, and it will combine with cameras and software that should significantly enhance the car’s highway pilot feature.

While the details are somewhat scarce, it appears that the base XC90 will roll out without the added features, and that these will come in the form of a standard car package. No figures have been mentioned yet, but Luminar said that it sells each unit for $1,000 for self-driving cars and $500 for ones that only feature self-driving measures as an option. Considering the amount of features that Volvo plans to add besides the Luminar’s self-driving unit, it’s a fair assumption that the cost of the package will be considerably higher than the price of the unit.