Volvo to Set Up New Autonomous Transport Business Starting 2020

Volvo has announced it will be creating a new business area as of January 1, 2020, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, to accelerate the development of autonomous transport solutions. Along with the new area, the Swedish automotive giant will be releasing its financials specifically relating to self-driving trucks to offer greater transparency to shareholders.

An increase in inquiries

“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 in the statement Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO Volvo Group.

The firm also said it is in the process of recruiting a new head to lead its Volvo Autonomous Solutions unit. Most of Volvo's efforts in the self-driving sphere have been focused in bringing autonomous trucks to market.

Bringing autonomous trucks to market

The company has a partnership with ferry and logistics giant DFDS to use Volvo's self-driving, connected and electric vehicle Vera to transport goods between a logistics hub and a port in Sweden. In the meantime, at the Brønnøy Kalk mine in Norway, autonomous Volvo FH trucks are being used for transporting limestone along a five-kilometer stretch. 

These projects are all in line with Volvo's vision to "provide transport solutions that are safer, have a lower environmental impact and are more efficient." The firm is looking to offer autonomous solutions "for applications where there is a need to move large volumes of goods and material on pre-defined routes, in repetitive flows."