Volvo Autonomous Solutions will form a strategic partnership with autonomous driving technology and generative AI provider Waabi to jointly develop and deploy autonomous trucks, with testing scheduled to begin later this year.
The two companies said they will integrate Waabi's virtual driver system, the Waabi Driver, into the Volvo VNL Autonomous, Volvo’s autonomous truck with redundant systems for enabling safe autonomous operations. The Volvo VNL Autonomous will be produced at Volvo’s New River Valley assembly plant in Dublin, Virginia, and be designed to support diverse operational needs, use cases, and Volvo Group truck brands.
The partnership is a continuation of Volvo’s collaboration with Waabi over the past two years, with Volvo Group Venture Capital first becoming a strategic investor in the company in 2023, and later investing in the company’s $200 million “series B” venture capital round in 2024.
The announcement came two weeks after autonomous truck developer Kodiak Robotics said it had become the first company in the industry to launch commercial driverless trucking operations. That milestone came as oil company Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. used two RoboTrucks—which are semi-trucks equipped with the Kodiak Driver self-driving system—to deliver 100 loads of fracking material on routes in the Permian Basin in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico.
Atlas now intends to scale up its RoboTruck deployment “considerably” over the course of 2025, with multiple RoboTruck deployments expected throughout the year. In support of that, Kodiak has established a 12-person office in Odessa, Texas, that is projected to grow to approximately 20 people by the end of Q1 2025.
