Volvo Vera (pilotless truck)

2019: Beginning of sales

June 13, 2019 Announced Volvo about commercial start of the first electric pilotless trucks. The logistic giant DFDS  for transportation of goods between the distribution center and port in Sweden began to use them.

At the first stage DFDS transports on small (within 2 km) distance. Speed of the tractor which received the name Volvo Vera is limited to the maximum level in 40 km/h, and work of autonomous systems will be monitored by the operator on a control post.

Ultimate goal of the project of the company call the subsequent full implementation of the autonomous system consisting of several Vera tractors.

It will allow to increase efficiency and frequency of transport transactions that will become the answer to the growing requirement of seaport for transportation of goods from the logistic center to platforms of loading and unloading of courts. The DFDS company sees a key to increase in profitability of the business in these aspects —  the vice president in the field of the autonomous solutions Volvo Trucks Mikael Carlson said.

As notes the VentureBeat edition, partnership of DFDS and Volvo will not bring fast results as a considerable part of necessary infrastructure continues to develop. For example, still it is necessary to construct the automated gate to permit entrance to trucks in the port terminal.

The pilotless Volvo electrotrucks went on sale

Meanwhile, also in June, 2019 Volvos and Uber provided the first production car equipped with technology of autonomous driving. It is constructed based on the XC90 SUV with the hybrid power unit.

The auto pilot of the SUV works at a basis of a difficult complex of radars and cameras which are managed by the software prepared by Uber company. The machine is also equipped with the back-up battery and a special system which will automatically stop the car if one some of electronic components fails.^[1]

Robotics

Notes