Autonomous trucking gets real with Volvo and Aurora’s production-ready driverless big rig

In a nutshell: The race to bring self-driving trucks to real-world roads is heating up, and Volvo has just made a significant move. The Swedish automaker has unveiled its first “production-ready” autonomous semi-truck, developed in collaboration with autonomous driving startup Aurora.

Dubbed the Volvo VNL Autonomous, this Level 4 self-driving big rig is based on Volvo’s brand new VNL Class 8 long-haul semi. It’s equipped with a comprehensive suite of sensors, cameras, and computers to enable true driverless operation on highways, rural roadways, and surface streets, day and night, and in all weather conditions.

At the heart of the VNL Autonomous is Aurora’s cutting-edge self-driving software stack, known as the Aurora Driver. This AI system combines powerful dual computers, high-resolution cameras, imaging radar, and Aurora’s proprietary long-range lidar, which can detect objects over 400 meters away. Redundant systems are in place for all critical components, including steering, brakes, sensors, and power.

“We are at the forefront of a new way to transport goods, complementing and enhancing transportation capacity, and thereby enabling trade and societal growth,” said 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.”

According to TechCrunch, the VNL Autonomous will still have a human driver when it starts freight hauling in the coming months, ready to take over when needed. An Aurora spokesperson told the publication they would announce client pilot programs using Volvo’s autonomous truck later this year. Separately, Aurora intends to deploy 20 fully driverless trucks between Dallas and Houston soon. The goal is to start fully driverless operations with a limited number of trucks, although a specific timeline has not been provided.

Making all this possible has been extensive real-world testing over the past few years. The AI has been trained across billions of miles in simulation and has racked up 1.5 million miles of commercial trucking routes on public roads in all conditions.

Volvo first teamed up with the autonomous vehicle startup Aurora in 2018 to collaborate on self-driving truck solutions. After years of development and testing, this production-ready VNL Autonomous is the first result of their partnership. The truck will roll off the assembly line at Volvo’s massive New River Valley plant in Virginia.

Of course, a few hurdles remain before robot trucks dominate the highways. Regulations need to be finalized, public acceptance needs to be gained, and the technology must withstand the ultimate test of millions of real-world miles. Public opinion is particularly challenging since it has declined following setbacks by companies like Tesla and Cruise.