Volvo's self-driving trucks passes test and hauls limestone from a mine
Volvo's self-driving trucks will haul limestone from a
mine
It's Volvo's first end-to-end autonomous transport
offering.
Jon Fingas November 26, 2018
Sometimes, it's the least glamorous uses of self-driving
tech that can be the most important. Volvo has struck a deal that will have six
of its autonomous trucks carrying limestone from a Brønnøy Kalk mine in Norway
to a port roughly 3 miles away. That might not sound exciting on the surface,
but the company isn't just selling the trucks and moving on. This is Volvo
Trucks' very first end-to-end autonomous offering -- the mining company is
paying for every metric tonne Volvo delivers. In other words, Volvo has a
strong incentive to make sure its driverless tech works as promised, as it
won't be paid otherwise.
Volvo and Brønnøy Kalk have already been testing their
solution and expect it to be in full service before the end of 2019.
This isn't the most complicated operation. The Volvo
trucks will drive along a preset route with very little chance for something to
go wrong.
However, it will help Volvo fine-tune its self-driving
model for future customers. It's also a hint at how vehicle makers could
operate in the long run -- they might shift away from selling individual cars
and trucks, and toward offering whole services where autonomous vehicles are
just part of a larger puzzle.
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