The Volvo VNL Autonomous – Proving the Way Forward

Rhea-AI Summary

Volvo Autonomous Solutions introduced the Volvo VNL Autonomous, its first production-ready autonomous truck, at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas. This truck integrates Volvo's commercial vehicle expertise with Aurora Innovation's autonomous driving technology.

The Volvo VNL Autonomous is designed to enhance freight capacity in the U.S., boasting redundant systems in steering, braking, communication, and more for safety and reliability.

Powered by the Aurora Driver, the truck features advanced AI software, dual computers, lidar, high-resolution cameras, and additional sensors. With extensive testing, it has driven 1.5 million commercial miles on public roads and billions of miles virtually.

The truck will be assembled at Volvo's New River Valley plant in Virginia, aiming for scalability in production. It targets increasing freight capacity and addressing driver shortages while improving transportation safety and efficiency.

Volvo plans to extend this autonomous technology to other truck brands and geographies, benefiting customers and society by enhancing transportation capacity and safety.

Positive

• Introduction of Volvo's first production-ready autonomous truck.
• Integration of industry-leading autonomous driving technology from Aurora Innovation.
• Purpose-built design that enhances freight capacity across the U.S.
• Redundant systems in steering, braking, communication, and power management for safety.
• Extensive testing, including 1.5 million commercial miles on public roads.
• Scalable production at Volvo's New River Valley plant.
• Potential to address driver shortages and improve transportation efficiency.

Negative

• Potential high costs associated with advanced AI and sensor technologies.
• Challenges in customer adoption and market readiness for autonomous trucks.
• Regulatory hurdles and safety concerns related to autonomous driving technology.
• Risk of initial production issues or delays in scaling manufacturing.

Insights

Tech Expert

Autonomous Driving Technology has been a game-changer in the transportation industry, pushing the boundaries of what's possible. The Volvo VNL Autonomous, integrated with Aurora Innovation's SAE L4 autonomous driving system, marks a significant leap forward. The system features advanced AI software, sensors, proprietary lidar, radar and high-resolution cameras. The combination of these technologies allows the truck to navigate complex environments and conditions, enhancing its operational capabilities significantly.

The redundancy systems integrated into the truck are critical for safety and reliability. These include duplicate systems for steering, braking and communication, among others. This level of redundancy is essential for meeting the stringent safety requirements of autonomous vehicles (AVs). It's noteworthy that the Aurora Driver has already driven 1.5 million commercial miles, which provides a robust dataset for refining its AI algorithms and ensuring reliability in real-world conditions.

From a retail investor's perspective, the technological advancements and the proven track record of the Aurora Driver are encouraging signs. However, the transition to autonomous vehicles is fraught with regulatory hurdles and public acceptance challenges. Investors should keep an eye on how these factors evolve, as they will significantly impact the adoption rate and, consequently, the financial performance of companies involved in this sector.

Market Research Analyst

The introduction of the Volvo VNL Autonomous addresses two major pain points in the transportation industry: driver shortages and increasing demand for freight capacity. The truck's design, aimed at providing a fully integrated autonomous solution for the Hub-to-Hub segment, is particularly noteworthy. This segment involves transporting goods between distribution hubs, a task well-suited for autonomous trucks due to its repetitive nature and defined routes.

Volvo's decision to manufacture this truck at its New River Valley plant, a facility with extensive production experience, indicates a strong commitment to scaling this technology. It's an essential factor for achieving cost efficiencies and meeting market demand. The plant's high-volume production capabilities will likely facilitate the widespread adoption of these trucks, assuming regulatory and societal hurdles are overcome.

For retail investors, the potential market size for autonomous trucks is substantial. However, it's worth noting that the market's readiness and regulatory landscape can be unpredictable. While the technology is promising, investors should be aware of the risks associated with the pace of adoption and potential regulatory changes.

Purpose designed and built for autonomy; the fully redundant truck will enable autonomous transport.

GREENSBORO, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Volvo Autonomous Solutions (V.A.S.) today unveiled Volvo’s first-ever production ready autonomous truck at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas. The Volvo VNL Autonomous brings together Volvo’s commercial vehicle expertise with industry-leading autonomous driving technology from Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ: AUR). The result is a purpose-designed and purpose-built autonomous truck that will be the key enabler to increasing freight capacity across the United States.

The Volvo VNL Autonomous brings together Volvo’s commercial vehicle expertise with industry-leading autonomous driving technology from Aurora Innovation. Credit: Volvo Autonomous Solutions

“We are at the forefront of a new way to transport goods, complementing and enhancing transportation capacity, and thereby enabling trade and societal growth,” states Nils Jaeger, President of Volvo Autonomous Solutions. “This truck is the first of our standardized 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.”

The platform-based design approach will enable Volvo to use its in-house developed virtual driver for trucks and machines working within confined applications and partner virtual driving technologies for on-highway trucking applications.

Guided by Safety with Robust Redundancy

Volvo Autonomous Solutions is dedicated to tackling the transportation industry’s capacity constraints through safe, sustainable, and efficient autonomous transport solutions. True to the Volvo DNA, every design and engineering decision for the new Volvo VNL Autonomous has been made with safety in mind. The Volvo VNL Autonomous therefore has redundant steering, braking, communication, computation, power management, energy storage and vehicle motion management systems.

“Our platform engineering approach prioritizes safety by incorporating high-assurance redundancy systems designed to mitigate potential emergency situations,” said Shahrukh Kazmi, Chief Product Officer at Volvo Autonomous Solutions. “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.”

Cutting-edge Technology and Purpose-built for Integration

Volvo’s and Aurora’s world-class engineering teams have worked closely together to integrate the Volvo VNL Autonomous and the Aurora Driver, an SAE L4 autonomous driving system. The Aurora Driver consists of powerful AI software, dual computers, proprietary lidar that can detect objects more than 400 meters away, high-resolution cameras, imaging radar, and additional sensors, enabling the Volvo VNL Autonomous to safely navigate the world around it.

“Powered by the Aurora Driver, the new Volvo VNL Autonomous is the realization of our shared vision,” said Sterling Anderson, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Aurora. “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 Aurora Driver has been extensively trained and tested in Aurora’s sophisticated virtual suite where it’s driven billions of miles. It also has driven 1.5 million commercial miles on public roads, where it deftly navigates end-to-end trucking routes traversing highways, rural roadways, and surface streets day and night and through good and bad weather.

Purpose-built for Commercial Scale

Building a viable autonomous truck at scale requires extensive manufacturing experience and a proven procurement eco-system. The Volvo VNL Autonomous will be assembled at Volvo’s flagship New River Valley (NRV) plant in Dublin, Virginia. As the largest Volvo Trucks plant in the world, NRV’s decades of high-volume production experience combined with stringent automotive quality processes will result in the capability to produce the Volvo VNL Autonomous at industry demand.

Looking Ahead: Customer Adoption and Societal Impact

“The Volvo VNL Autonomous, powered by the Aurora Driver, offers a fully integrated autonomous solution in the Hub-to-Hub segment,” says Sasko Cuklev, Head of On-Road Solutions at Volvo Autonomous Solutions. “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.”

Volvo is a company built around people and the mission of Volvo Autonomous Solutions is no different. Improving transportation not just for customers, but society at large, is at the core of the work done by Volvo Autonomous Solutions. The United States has seen driver shortages for decades and that gap is only expected to increase. The adoption of autonomy aims at aiding the transportation sector with additional freight capacity while allowing drivers to focus on routes better suited to work-life balance. The introduction of the new Volvo VNL Autonomous marks a milestone in the implementation of autonomous transport and the societal benefits of autonomy.

About Volvo Autonomous Solutions

The autonomous transport solution offered by Volvo Autonomous Solutions is based on Transport as a Service (TaaS) and includes a vehicle purpose-built for autonomous driving, a virtual driver, required infrastructure, operations and uptime support as well as a cloud solution that controls the transport system and manages logistics flows. The solutions developed by Volvo Autonomous Solutions are tailor-made for each customer’s needs and intended to make their operations safer, productive and sustainable.

About Aurora

Aurora (Nasdaq: AUR) is delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly to make transportation safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient than ever before. The Aurora Driver is a self-driving system designed to operate multiple vehicle types, from freight-hauling trucks to ride-hailing passenger vehicles, and underpins Aurora’s driver-as-a-service products for trucking and ride-hailing. Aurora is working with industry leaders across the transportation ecosystem, including Volvo Trucks, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, Continental, FedEx, Hirschbach, Ryder, Schneider, Toyota, Uber, Uber Freight, and Werner. To learn more, visit aurora.tech.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: those statements around Aurora’s and Volvo Autonomous Solutions’ ability to develop, bring to market, manufacture, and scale, autonomous trucks, systems, and related products and services; statements relating to anticipated market demand and opportunity for, and cost efficiencies resulting from, autonomous trucking solutions; and statements regarding the impact of autonomous driving systems on customer operations and social benefits. These statements are based on the current assumptions of Aurora’s and Volvo Autonomous Solutions’ management and are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual performance or achievements to be materially different from any future performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. For factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, please see the risks and uncertainties identified under the heading “Risk Factors” section of Aurora Innovation, Inc.’s (“Aurora”) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on February 15, 2024, its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on May 9, 2024, and other documents filed by Aurora from time to time with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements reflect our beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. Aurora and Volvo Autonomous Solutions undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240520692348/en/

David Reese

Acting Head of Marketing & Communications, Volvo Autonomous Solutions

e-mail: david.reese@volvo.com

+1 717 7247726

Rachel Chibidakis

Product and Partner Comms, Aurora

email: rchibidakis@aurora.tech

+1 415-314-9392

Source: Aurora

FAQ

What is the Volvo VNL Autonomous?

The Volvo VNL Autonomous is Volvo's first production-ready autonomous truck, designed to enhance freight capacity in the U.S.

What technology powers the Volvo VNL Autonomous?

The Volvo VNL Autonomous is powered by the Aurora Driver, which includes AI software, dual computers, lidar, high-resolution cameras, and additional sensors.

Where will the Volvo VNL Autonomous be assembled?

The Volvo VNL Autonomous will be assembled at Volvo's New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia.

How safe is the Volvo VNL Autonomous?

The Volvo VNL Autonomous features redundant systems in steering, braking, communication, computation, power management, energy storage, and vehicle motion management to enhance safety.

What are the benefits of the Volvo VNL Autonomous?

The benefits include increased freight capacity, addressing driver shortages, and improving transportation efficiency and safety.

How has the Volvo VNL Autonomous been tested?

The Volvo VNL Autonomous has driven 1.5 million commercial miles on public roads and billions of miles in virtual testing environments.

What is the significance of the Volvo VNL Autonomous for the transportation industry?

The Volvo VNL Autonomous aims to tackle transportation capacity constraints, improve efficiency, and contribute to societal growth through autonomous technology.