Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2024 - 25

ORIGINAL
EQUIPMENT
Volvo hits milestones for autonomous trucks and electrified
off-highway machines
Volvo made several key announcements
at the 2024 Advanced Clean
Transportation (ACT) Expo in Las Vegas.
The company also reaffirmed its goal of
reaching net-zero carbon emissions with
a 100% fossil-free fleet of trucks and
off-highway machines by 2040.
" The sustainable future is not only
about electric trucks, though they do
play a very important role, " said Peter
Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks
North America. " It's about all the things
that we transport. For a sustainable future,
there is not one silver bullet. We
will have different technologies that all
enable zero-emissions trucks. This will
include electric drivelines, hydrogen fuel
cells, and internal combustion engines. "
Volvo's plan to decarbonize will involve
BEVs as well as renewable diesel and
other fossil-free fuels. " One partnership
with Westport demonstrates this commitment
to sustainability, " Voorhoeve
said. " Together with Westport, we will
develop engines that will be able to burn
liquid biofuel or hydrogen. "
Volvo is also reducing its own carbon
footprint by filling trucks with renewable
diesel fuel as they come off the factory
The VNL Autonomous features the Aurora Driver system from Aurora Innovation.
line. " We don't use [fossil] diesel at our
factories anymore, " Voorhoeve said.
" We use HVO [hydrotreated vegetable
oil, also known as renewable diesel or
green diesel]. By doing this, we will, on
a yearly basis, move from 1.1 million gallons
of traditional diesel to 1.1 million
gallons of HVO. This has an immediate
impact on the CO2
by about 85%. "
output of our factory
Autonomous tech platform
Volvo Autonomous Solutions unveiled
its first production-ready autonomous
truck, the VNL Autonomous, at ACT
Expo. The truck features the Aurora
Driver system from Aurora Innovation.
Volvo and Aurora's engineering teams
collaborated to integrate the system
and create an SAE Level 4 automated
system. The VNL Autonomous will be
assembled at Volvo's New River Valley
(NRV) plant in Dublin, Virginia.
" 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, " said Nils Jaeger, president
of Volvo Autonomous Solutions.
The Aurora Driver consists of AI softVolvo
states that the VNL Autonomous will enable the use of its in-house-developed virtual driver
for additional applications.
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
ware, dual computers, proprietary Iidar
sensors that can detect objects more
than 400 meters (1,300 ft) away, highresolution
cameras, imaging radar and
additional sensors. Volvo states that the
platform-based design approach of the
VNL Autonomous will enable the use of
its in-house-developed virtual driver for
August 2024 25
BOTH IMAGES: VOLVO TRUCKS

Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2024