Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Aurora have unveiled the prototype truck integrated with driving technology that will form the basis for further development to establish autonomous trucking in the North American market.
The two companies have introduced a Volvo VNL long-haul on-highway truck as the next step towards launching fully autonomous Class 8 trucks in North America.
"Volvo Autonomous Solutions is proud to take our first, major steps toward the autonomous Volvo VNL in North America," said Nils Jaeger, president of Volvo Autonomous Solutions. "Our long-standing customer base and their priorities are at the forefront of our path forward in shaping autonomous trucking. We strongly believe in a future in which safe, sustainable, efficient transport solutions are essential for any society to prosper, and autonomous commercial trucking is an important piece of that transformation."
While research and development are supported by global team efforts, on-highway autonomous truck applications are also being designed and engineered in the U.S., in preparation for future production at Volvo Trucks' New River Valley Assembly Operations in Dublin, Virginia.
Volvo Group brings nearly 100 years of experience with safety; the transformation to autonomous is rooted in this experience and builds on proven safety technologies already in place on the Volvo VNL, including Volvo Dynamic Steering (VDS) and automated transmission (I-Shift). These existing technologies, along with a number of other advanced vehicle features, create a redundant safety-based solution in the autonomous truck's core systems to ensure safe operations are in place. The foundation of these proven Volvo Trucks' safety systems combined with the Aurora Driver technology ensures the highest safety outcome at every step of the development process.
"We are proud that our Volvo VNL model will serve as the foundation for the development of North American autonomous trucks to offer our customers the next generation of safe, efficient and sustainable transport solutions," said Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America.
As Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Aurora continue to make progress with the Volvo VNL prototype digitally revealed today, the partners are working toward the next step in implementing their hub-to-hub transport vision in North America. This includes identifying specific regions and routes to serve as the initial hubs for on-road highway testing. In addition, Volvo Autonomous Solutions is working closely with customers to understand their current and future needs, priorities and demands, in preparation for piloting the autonomous Volvo VNL in on-road, hub-to-hub transport scenarios, as well as the eventual adoption of autonomous technology commercially.
