
Volvo Autonomous Solutions (VAS) believes it has a clear path to launch and scale up the production of driverless trucks.
It has taken a different approach to many of the startups that have proliferated the industry, many of which are already out of business. Volvo has built its new VNL to be autonomous-ready, with the Aurora Driver and related technologies installed on the truck at the company’s assembly line at its New River Valley, Va., plant.

Retrofitting the needed technology on existing truck models – as many other players have proposed to do — isn’t a viable path forward, according to Sasko Cuklev, head of on-road solutions with VAS.
“Some other players take a standard truck and upfit it,” he said during a press briefing at Volvo Trucks North America in Greensboro, N.C., this week. “I question the scalability of that, but also, how do you get this quality stamp on this solution?”
Building autonomous trucks on Volvo’s existing assembly lines will give it that quality control other players may lack, he contended. VAS has already built its first batch of 25 autonomous trucks on its New River Valley line.
VAS sees two main opportunities for autonomous trucking: mines and quarries, where it’s already operating today in Europe; and hub-to-hub routes in the U.S. Those European trucks have been operating for more than a year on a five-kilometer haul route between a mine and crusher. It has even mastered reversing, no small feat for autonomous engineers to perfect.

But in North America, said Cuklev, hub-to-hub routes are “the holy grail of autonomous.” It is focusing initially on routes within Texas where VAS is already building its own terminals. It will play a very active role in the handling of freight along those routes.
“We talk about it as a new mode of transportation,” said Cuklev. “We have air, rail, boats, trucking – and then in the future we’ll also have autonomous transport solutions.”
VAS is in the process of constructing four terminals in Texas, where staff working for VAS and Aurora will manage daily customer interactions and transport operations. Trimble will manage the transportation and fleet management tools that integrate the customers, the trucks, Aurora driver, terminals and dealers. Two Volvo dealers have already been tapped in the area to support the autonomous trucks.
Asked if Volvo Autonomous Solutions will effectively compete with existing Volvo customers, Cuklev insisted the two services will be complementary.
“I’m a strong believer that, in the beginning when it’s an immature solution, we want to take on the risk,” he explained. “We see this as a complement to what we have today, not a replacement. There’s a need for a new mode. All predictions are showing an increase in [freight] demand and we will need new types of solutions.”
Cuklev noted the autonomous Volvo has redundant braking, steering, communications, computation, power and energy management, and vehicle motion management systems.
Step one on the road to commercialization is complete; the first autonomous-enabled new VNL has already been built. In the coming months, VAS will deploy autonomous trucks with a safety driver in the cab. Eventually, the safety driver will be removed, the technology will be industrialized, and production will be ramped up. Just don’t ask when.
“We have a very solid plan,” Cuklev said. “We believe we will be one of the big winners, but we will not share any timings like some of the tech players do.”
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