Volvo Bets Big On Autonomous Freight Transport, Establishes Dedicated Business Group

Volvo Group is parlaying their autonomous technology into a new venture: automated freight transportation. The newly formed business group, called Volvo Autonomous Solutions, will focus on providing transport services to industrial and commercial companies who “need to move large volumes of goods and material on pre-defined routes, in repetitive flows.”

Their aim is to accelerate the development and adoption of autonomous tech in freight supply chains. Volvo is already invested in self-driving tech, and due to direct customer feedback, they’re making the move into this new business area. This makes sense seeing as we’re still years away from seeing consumer-ready self-driving cars hit the roads. At the current level of technological development, AVs are more likely to see immediate adoption in areas like supply chain logistics. This is mainly due to the fact that the routes will be repeatable, are able to be easily mapped, and will generally be in areas without a lot of human density. Click this usfinancer guarantor loans for bad credit

“We have experienced a significant increase in inquiries from customers. With the Volvo Group’s wide range of offerings and broad experience of different applications, we have a unique opportunity to offer solutions that meet their specific needs. It is a logical next step for us to gather expertise and resources in a new business area with profit and loss responsibility to take autonomous transport solutions to the next level,” said Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO of Volvo.

Volvo has begun to look for someone to head the new venture, even though the new business group won’t be officially active until January 1, 2020.

That’s not to say they aren’t already making strides in the world of AVs, however. At their Electric Site research project—an automated, electrified material handling operation at a Swedish quarry—Volvo has seen a 40% reduction in operator cost, a 70% reduction in energy cost, and a whopping 98% reduction in carbon emissions. Volvo also has autonomous trucks being tested at the Brønnøy Kalk mine in Norway. The AVs are moving limestone along a five-kilometer stretch, transporting the quarried material from inside the mine to a jaw crusher at a nearby port.

In Gothenburg, Sweden, Volvo’s sleek AV, simply called Vera, is part of an integrated solution for transporting goods. The futuristic-looking vehicle will be hauling shipping containers from a logistics center to a port terminal. The vehicle currently only operates at around 24 mph, but its lack of emissions and driverless operation will benefit both business and humanity.

With Volvo pioneering efficient, sustainable transportation, it looks like commercial enterprises, as well as the environment, will reap equal rewards from this endeavor; a rare win-win in the world of supply chain logistics.