Vera is the self-driving truck described by Mikael Karlsson, vice president of Volvo Truck Automation Solutions. Its graphic design is reminiscent of Williams Advanced Engineering's FW-EVX electric vehicle platform. Vera also relies on battery power and uses a unique five-wheel coupling to tow a trailer or container. Although its chassis is not yet made of composite materials, the body components are made of composite materials. Volvo has always been a leader in automotive composites, having used glass fiber reinforced polyurethane composite rear axle leaf springs as its Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform for S60, S90, V60, V90 and XC60 models. At the same time, Volvo is about to produce Polestar 1 from carbon fiber composites.
Volvo launched its Vera self-driving truck in September 2018. According to Volvo at the time, during the development process, in order to meet customer demand for cost reductions, Volvo continued to explore various solutions needed for automation, connection technology and electric vehicles.
Vera's first job was to transport containers from the port of Gothenburg, Sweden, to the logistics center of DFDS Transport, Sweden. Although it will drive along the road, its speed will not exceed 40 kilometers (25 miles) per hour, and the truck will be monitored by operators in the control room. This is the first step for Vera to perform actual transportation tasks.
"We want to be at the forefront of networked autonomous transportation," said DFDS CEO Torben Carlsen. "This partnership will help us develop an efficient, flexible and sustainable long-term solution, and we will use autonomous vehicles to benefit customers, the environment and the business."
According to Karlsson, Volvo will further develop the application potential of Vera in other similar businesses, starting with transportation tasks at logistics centers, factories and ports, and then gradually expanding to other applications that require short-range repeated movements. "Vera is not intended to be a ubiquitous solution," he said. "We will adapt and customize development according to the unique needs of users."