Volvo, DHL launch autonomous fleet

Equipment manufacturer Volvo and logistics company DHL have partnered to launch an autonomous fleet in Texas as the companies seek to develop their long-term autonomous future. 

The longstanding relationship between DHL and Volvo, including Volvo Autonomous Solutions (V.A.S.), helped facilitate the partnership, Jason Gillespie, senior director and head of continuous improvement and innovation for transportation at DHL Supply Chain, told Equipment Finance News. 

“We’ve got a long relationship, but when [the V.A.S.] team came to us with their approach, we thought it made a lot of sense for ease-less [adoption] and building the infrastructure around it,” he said. “They had the comprehensive ground-up approach they were taking to the vehicle, where a lot of the technology providers out there are retrofitting the vehicles to be autonomous … which we liked.” 

The companies declined to say how much they were investing in the partnership. 

DHL and V.A.S. intend to test the autonomous fleet on the Texas freight corridors from Dallas to Houston and from Fort Worth to El Paso, according to Dec. 11 Volvo release. With safety as a priority for both companies, each vehicle will have a driver, Gillespie said. 

“It was really that safety-first focus with innovation is where we totally aligned culturally with them,” he said. “It made a lot of sense to partner with Volvo and develop this solution together.” 

Supporting project

Volvo dealers Bruckner Truck and Equipment and Vanguard Truck Centers, one of the largest Volvo dealer groups in the world, will service the autonomous vehicles and meet uptime demands, Sasko Cuklev, head of on-road solutions at V.A.S., told EFN. 

“In the solution we’re building here, one key element is what we call the uptime services, and in our case, we want to utilize the extensive service and maintenance network that we already have, where our dealers play a key role,” he said.  

DHL and Volvo operate on a transportation-as-a-service agreement, with Volvo owning the fleet. Gillespie said DHL could buy units in the future instead of operating its current capacity.

V.A.S. has a fleet of 25 autonomous units, Cuklev said during a Nov. 19 news conference. 

DHL’s plan to make adjustments to improve safety and security is a key to success of the partnership, he said. 

“As we talk about things like security and safety, with the autonomous solution in mind, because it does change a little bit, it doesn’t change it drastically,” he said. “There are little things that we’ve been working through on the solution, so be ready for the change and open to it.” 

For V.A.S., developing commercially viable autonomous solutions requires collaboration with customers, dealers, lenders and vendors, Cuklev said. 

 “It is about collaborating,” he said. “It is about partnerships, because we need to join forces to determine how this solution should be commercially viable. 

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