Page 26 - EE Times Europe Magazine - June 2025

26 EE|Times EUROPE

AUTONOMOUS DRIVING | PILOTS AND DEPLOYMENTS
Volvo Taking Platform Route to Scale

Autonomous Driving Beyond Trucks

By Pat Brans
Volvo Autonomous Solutions has been crafting a platform for autonomous trucking

that can be deployed across all Volvo brands once higher levels of autonomy are
achieved and business cases identified.

ost of us remember the video showing Jean-Claude Van Damme own virtual driver to navigate challenging
confidently standing with one leg on each of two moving Volvo conditions to transport limestone from a
mine to a crusher. Shortly after operations
trucks as they slowly separate from one another just enough began at the mine in Norway, a similar project
Mfor Van Damme to achieve one of his signature splits. “The very was started at the Boliden Garpenberg site in
precise dynamic steering system shown in that advertisement is an example Sweden, using driverless trucks to move rock
fill from an on-site quarry.
of our very strong base in advanced technologies that enable autonomous As for the on-road segment, in
driving,” Shahrukh Kazmi, chief product officer for Volvo Autonomous December 2024, Volvo Autonomous Solutions
Solutions, told EE Times Europe. began testing autonomous trucks, with safety
drivers, on two routes in Texas—between
plugged in, depending on the application. Dallas and Houston and between Fort Worth
For now, Volvo Autonomous Solutions is and El Paso—using a virtual driver provided
focused on two application categories. One by Aurora. The project is being carried out in
is what Kazmi calls the “confined segment,” collaboration with DHL Supply Chain.
which includes quarry and mining operations; In the mining and quarry applications,
the other is the “on-road segment,” including Volvo trucks move between two points within
hub-to-hub delivery over highways. Over the a circular loop on confined and controlled
past two years, the company achieved note- routes with environmental hazards. According
worthy milestones in both categories. to Raymond Langfjord, general manager of
In August 2023, Volvo Autonomous Brønnøy Kalk, that operation’s terrain is an
Solutions began operating autonomous open pit mine consisting of limestone, which
trucks, without a safety driver, at the Brønnøy becomes slippery when combined with water.
Kalk mine in Velfjord, Norway. Seven Volvo FH The driverless trucks travel a 5-km path
trucks rely on Volvo Autonomous Solutions’ stretching from where they load to where they

Volvo Autonomous Solutions’
Shahrukh Kazmi

According to Kazmi, Volvo Autonomous
Solutions resolved several years ago to build
a platform that would allow the company to
produce vehicle autonomy at scale when the
time was right. That platform now is used in
Volvo trucks for specific applications. As soon
as it is mature enough to operate on a high-
way without a safety driver—and regulators
accept Level 4 vehicles—the platform will be
deployed across Volvo brands and across use
cases.
The platform comprises two core layers.
The foundational layer includes essential
driving systems, such as steering and braking,
with built-in redundancy. On top of that is an
autonomous driving layer including sen-
sors—such as cameras, LiDAR, and inertial
measurement units—paired with a virtual
driver, a software “brain” that processes
sensor data to make operational decisions.
The platform is designed with integration in Raymond Langfjord, general manager of the Brønnøy Kalk mine, in front of an
mind, allowing different virtual drivers to be autonomous Volvo FH truck at the mining site (Source: AB Volvo)

JUNE 2025 | www.eetimes.eu