Autonomous Solutions
By working together, we aim to use our respective skills to achieve autonomous hub-to-hub transport solutions, built on foundations of safety and innovation. Beyond that we will create new commercial offers with customer success as our leading principle.
Autonomous driving in its development and deployment are the key engineering challenges we face today. So, teaming up two experts in their fields – Volvo and Aurora – to collaborate closely on solving these problems represents a bold step forward. I think it's fair to say that both companies bring strong experience, expertise and value to this partnership, and the joint engineering will accelerate autonomous technology in its deployment.
Nils Jaeger signing the contract with Aurora
Creating autonomous solutions that can travel on public roads at high speed without the intervention of human beings is, of course, mindbogglingly complicated. So why do we bother? The answer is that the advantages of getting it right – in terms of improving safety and efficiency – means that the sooner we can achieve them, the better for everyone.
The Volvo Group sees automation as a key enabler for the future and is investing heavily in developing autonomy enabled commercial vehicles. And not just the vehicles, but whole transport solutions that make them possible, and new business models that make them commercially attractive. Collaborating with leaders in their field – as Aurora undoubtedly is – will increase the speed of development and strengthen our internal capabilities.
With our recognized Tara solution, we already have our own in-house developed hardware and software technology for autonomous transport and hauling solutions in confined areas. The technology we jointly develop with Aurora will be used for on-highway trucking applications in North America. This collaboration will undoubtedly trigger innovation that benefits both companies, and society itself.
Safety is the core value that Volvo is best known for – and with good reason. That remains as unshakable a conviction when it comes to autonomous driving as to anything else. One of the cornerstones of our cooperation with Aurora is that they also share our absolute commitment to improving safety. Together, we firmly believe that when the technology is developed, tested, verified and validated, autonomous transport solutions will provide new and improved safety levels. This is the journey we are on – not just making transportation safer, but demonstrating it unequivocally to reassure the public.
Partnering with a pioneer and leader in autonomous driving such as Aurora helps propel us towards this safe and efficient future. The company’s Aurora Driver is a system of sensors that perceive the world around them and software that plans a safe path through it. Computing power then integrates these features with the Volvo vehicle to ensure that our trucks can navigate safely and efficiently along a highway network. Volvo will continue investing in autonomy enabled trucks, ensuring that autonomous transportation is one of our key competences.
Thanks to Volvo’s partnerships with companies like Aurora, autonomous transport solutions for on highway trucking are going to become reality. There is still a lot of work to do but I am convinced that our joint endeavor is a long-term benefit to society.
Nils Jaeger,
President and Head of Volvo Autonomous Solutions
For further information, please contact:
Ceren Wende
Head of Marketing and Communication, Volvo Autonomous Solutions
Phone: + 46 31 322 4536
E-mail: ceren.wende@volvo.com