Volvo Trucks’ Vera performed its first autonomous assignment this year, with the electric, connected, and autonomous vehicle forming part of a very highly integrated solution to transport goods from a logistics center to a port terminal in Gothenburg, Sweden. The initiative is a result of a collaboration between Volvo Trucks and ferry and logistics company, DFDS—with support from the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova, the Swedish Transport Administration, and the Swedish Energy Agency. The connected system including the Vera application enables a continuous flow of goods from a DFDS logistics center to an A.P. Moller – Maersk’s APM Terminals port facility for global distribution. Vera is intended to transport large volumes of goods with high precision over short distances. The connected system consists of several Vera vehicles monitored by a control tower. With a maximum speed of 40 km/h (25 mph), the solution is meant for repetitive flows that are responsive to demands for greater efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability. The collaboration with DFDS is a first step toward implementing Vera in a real transport assignment on pre-defined public roads in an industrial area. Autonomous transports with low noise levels and zero exhaust emissions have an important role to play in the future of logistics, and this collaboration is an important start. Testing has already started, and the autonomous transport solution will be further developed in terms of technology, operations management, and infrastructure adaptations before it can be fully operational.

Click to view AVT’s 2020 ACES Award Winners best in class of