Volvo Autonomous Solutions (VAS) has announced a new hub-to-hub autonomous transport technology that aims to address the growing demand for freight movement across North America.
VAS hopes its autonomous transport product will be able to transport freight efficiently on major US highways. Global logistics provider DHL Supply Chain will be the first customer to use this hub-to-hub technology, which is designed to serve shippers, carriers, logistics service providers and freight brokers.
Nils Jaeger, President of Volvo Autonomous Solutions said:Today, the increasing demand for freight is outgrowing capacity and solutions must be bolder, safer, smarter and more sustainable to move the world forward. This is more than an autonomous truck – it is the Autonomous Transport Solution, which we believe will create value for the entire transportation ecosystem, all with optimised operations that reduce emissions and increase safety.
VAS has collaborated with Aurora to develop autonomous truck technology, with the aim of providing a complete Transport-as-a-Service (TaaS) solution for scalable autonomous freight capacity on US highways.
The partnership with DHL will now pave the way for providing relevant customers with this autonomous freight service. The future deployment of the Class 8 Volvo VNL autonomous trucks will be DHL’s first TaaS operation. As a diversified logistics service provider and carrier, DHL is an ideal early adopter.
Jim Monkmeyer, President, Transportation, DHL Supply Chain North America said:DHL is excited to partner with a leading-edge transportation company in Volvo Autonomous Solutions. We are full-speed-ahead on the adoption of the next wave of transportation solutions including autonomous trucks and confident that global leaders like Volvo will help to accelerate their development. We see huge potential in advanced technology solutions like autonomous trucks to address the needs of our customers around efficiency, reliability and increased capacity, which only hastened during the pandemic. But our collaboration aims higher than an autonomous truck – we hope our partnership with Volvo will help shape a safer and more sustainable future for all.
VAS is also working to finalise additional strategic partnerships with key customers and segment leaders who will pilot the autonomous freight transport solution to advance VAS’s understanding of their real-world needs. These collaborations will help improve the ecosystem’s overall reliability for transporting freight across the US.
