Volvo is a company that prides itself on innovation across many different industries. In the world of big rigs, Volvo Autonomous Solutions in collaboration with the developer, Aurora, has a prototype that seeks to achieve quite a few things with several breakthrough technologies. The brand is close to fully launching autonomous Class 8 trucks for the commercial market.
“Volvo Autonomous Solutions is proud to take our first, major steps toward the autonomous VNL in North America. Our long-standing customer base and their priorities are at the forefront of our path forward in shaping autonomous trucking.”
Autonomous systems and applications are currently being designed and developed in the United States. The move is in line with the preparation for the future production at Volvo Trucks’ New River Valley Assembly Operations in Dublin, Virginia. The global team of Volvo is also supporting the project.
Called the long-haul VNL model, the prototype was shown to the public and marks an important step in the realm of autonomous trucks for the North American market. In addition to the autonomic features of the vehicle, it also gets Volvo’s suite of safety features that are world-renown and industry-leading, such as Volvo Dynamic Steering (VDS) and the brand’s automated transmission (I-Shift).
"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,” Nils Jaeger added.
Autonomous vehicles may still be a ways off especially in the Philippines, given how most roads in the nation have yet to be fully developed. However, horizons are wide for Volvo as their new crop of haulers could complement the transport system and meet the increasing demands of the logistics industry and the importance beset on it.
Volvo will continue to make progress on the Volvo VNL prototype, which will be a part of the brand’s next step in creating a hub-to-hub transport network in North America.
