Uber Freight & VAS deal is autonomous haulage milestone

​​​​​​​Uber Freight is to deploy Volvo’s autonomous transport solution on the Uber Freight network, the companies have announced.

Volvo Autonomous Solutions will offer autonomous freight capacity to Uber Freight shippers on select routes, starting in Texas.

Via the Uber Freight platform, shippers will be able to tap into safer, more efficient ways to move freight. The solution is also designed to ease strained global supply chains. 

The partnership marks Uber Freight’s first commercial collaboration with an autonomous fleet. Uber Freight is also one of the first companies to pilot VAS’s hub-to-hub autonomous offering. 

The development provides a glimpse into the future of road haulage, which will see hybrid solutions whereby autonomous and manually driven trucks work together within a hub-to-hub model. 

Autonomous fleets dovetail with manual last-mile solutions

Under this model, autonomous trucks will take on the long-haul portion of the transport mission, while manually driven trucks complete last-mile operations. 

Hub-to-hub is designed to ease the strain on drivers of rocketing demand for freight, by allowing them to focus on short-haul jobs closer to home, improving their work-life balance. 

VAS is the latest in a series of partnerships struck by Uber Freight to take logistics into the future; it also works closely with driver-as-a-service technology providers such as Aurora and Waymo as it seeks to make autonomous transportation a commercial reality.

Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron says: “We look forward to helping shippers integrate autonomous solutions into their operations. Our ability to expand access to VAS’s transportation solution unlocks greater access to reliable capacity, improving the efficiency and sustainability of our customers’ supply chains.”  

Volvo Autonomous Solutions President Nils Jaeger says: “By integrating our autonomous transport solution with Uber Freight’s expansive network, we offer shippers the possibility to move goods more efficiently while addressing some of the biggest challenges of the industry – transit times, empty miles and a shortage of drivers.”