Volvo has revealed a company-first in the form of its first production ready autonomous truck model at this week’s ACT Expo in Las Vegas.
The new Volvo VNL Autonomous was developed in partnership with Aurora Innovation, which created the autonomous technology inside the truck.
It is currently slated for use across the United States, with a view to expand distribution worldwide.
“We are at the forefront of a new way to transport goods, complementing and enhancing transportation capacity, and thereby enabling trade and societal growth,” says president of Volvo Autonomous Solutions Nils Jaeger.
“This truck is the first of our standardised global autonomous technology platform, which will enable us to introduce additional models in the future, bringing autonomy to all Volvo Group truck brands, and to other geographies and use cases.”
Key behind the development of the truck has been the safety solutions included within it. Volvo says that it is working to the ‘industry’s capacity constraints’ as safely and sustainably as possible.
The VNL Autonomous includes redundant steering, braking, communication, computation, power management, energy storage and vehicle motion management systems.
“Our platform engineering approach prioritises safety by incorporating high-assurance redundancy systems designed to mitigate potential emergency situations,” says chief product officer Shahrukh Kazmi.
“We built the Volvo VNL Autonomous from the ground up, integrating these redundancy systems to ensure that every safety-critical component is intentionally duplicated, thereby significantly enhancing both safety and reliability.”
The truck is equipped with the Aurora Driver, an SAE L4 autonomous driving system.
Within it is powerful Al software, dual computers, proprietary Iidar (light radar) that can detect objects more than 400 meters away, high-resolution cameras, imaging radar, and additional sensors.
Aurora has trained and tested its technology within its virtual suite as well as on-road with testers monitoring its performance. This includes 1.5 million commercial miles on public roads, highways, rural roadways, and surface streets day and night.
“Powered by the Aurora Driver, the new Volvo VNL Autonomous is the realisation of our shared vision,” says Aurora co-founder Sterling Anderson.
“This truck combines Aurora’s industry-leading self-driving technology with Volvo’s best-in-class truck, designed specifically for autonomy, making it a must-have for any transport provider that wants to strengthen and grow their business.”
“The Volvo VNL Autonomous, powered by the Aurora Driver, offers a fully integrated autonomous solution in the Hub-to-Hub segment,” adds head of on-road solutions Sasko Cuklev.
“Our approach reduces complexity for our customers while allowing them to experience the benefits of an autonomous solution with peace of mind by ensuring efficiency, safety and reliability.”