Volvo Autonomous Solutions (V.A.S.) has opened an office in Fort Worth, Texas. The office is dedicated to setting up autonomous freight corridors that will run from Dallas/Forth Worth to El Paso and from Dallas to Houston.
"At Volvo Autonomous Solutions we believe the path to autonomy at scale is through reducing the friction and complications around ownership and operations for customers. This is why we have taken the decision to be the single interface to our customers and take full ownership of the elements required for commercial autonomous transport," says Nils Jaeger, President of Volvo Autonomous Solutions.
V.A.S. says that it has started to haul loads with trucks using DHL and Uber Freight drivers to test aspects of autonomous transportation and establish frameworks and procedures for safe operations.
The autonomous transport solutions (ATS) offered by V.A.S. includes hardware, software, and services required to run autonomous transport operations. On highways, the autonomous solution is operated based on a hub-to-hub model where autonomous trucks take on the highway portion of the driving, operating all hours of the day and night between transfer hubs while human drivers complete local operations.
V.A.S. is partnering with others in the industry including DHL and Uber Freight to help accelerate the development of autonomous transportation. The program is aimed at shippers, carriers, logistics service providers, and freight brokers that V.A.S. will work with to pilot and commercialize autonomous transportation.
V.A.S. has also formed a partnership with Aurora. At the heart of the partnership is the integration of the Aurora Driver with Volvo's on-highway truck offering.
