Volvo and Waabi begin autonomous freight trucking between Houston and Dallas
Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Waabi have begun hauling commercial freight between Houston and Dallas for logistics company Warp. The service adds another autonomous trucking operation to a Texas corridor already used by several companies.
The companies announced Monday that their self-driving trucks are now transporting shipments for Warp directly to third-party facilities along the route. The trucks drive autonomously, but an observer remains in the driver’s seat for now.
Volvo said the operation pairs Volvo VNL Autonomous trucks with Waabi’s autonomous driving system. The trucks are moving commercial freight, not test loads, and are delivering to third-party facilities rather than making internal runs between company sites.
Nils Jaeger, president of Volvo Autonomous Solutions, said the companies intend to use the route to refine the technology and prepare for wider use.
“What we learn on the Dallas to Houston corridor will help us strengthen our partnership and continuously improve the ecosystem as we scale,” Jaeger said in the announcement.
The companies plan to eventually operate the trucks without a human in the driver’s seat and expand to additional routes. They did not say when they expect to remove the observer or which routes would come next.
The Dallas to Houston corridor is one of Texas’ busiest autonomous trucking routes. It connects two major Texas freight markets over a long-distance interstate route with heavy commercial traffic.
Houston-based Bot Auto completed a fully driverless freight run from Houston to Dallas earlier this year. Aurora launched commercial driverless deliveries between Dallas and Houston last year and has continued expanding its driverless trucking network. Kodiak hauls freight between the two cities and has said it plans to go fully driverless by the end of the year.
Uber Freight is also operating self-driving trucks between Houston and Dallas in partnership with Waabi.
The Volvo and Waabi service adds another fleet to a corridor where multiple companies are testing how autonomous trucks can handle long-haul commercial routes. The companies are collecting data on safety, dispatch, hub-to-hub delivery and how the technology performs in regular freight traffic.
The launch adds to autonomous freight projects tied to Houston’s logistics industry. The city’s port, warehouses and interstate access have made it a starting point for companies testing self-driving trucks in commercial service.
The companies have not released the number of trucks operating on the route or the volume of freight they will move.
