Volvo Autonomous Solutions plans to remove safety drivers from its autonomous trucks and begin fully driverless operations on U.S. highways in the first quarter of 2027, according to a FreightWaves report. The company detailed its timeline and scaling ambitions at Volvo Group's recent Capital Markets Day, aiming to have more than 300 autonomous trucks operating by the end of 2027, with industrial scaling beginning in 2028. Revenue from the autonomous business is projected to approach approximately $3 billion within five years.
Timeline and Scaling
The company currently operates commercially in Texas with safety drivers aboard, moving freight daily on routes between Dallas and Houston, Fort Worth and El Paso, and most recently Dallas to Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma City expansion represents an operational leap: point-to-point delivery directly into customer facilities rather than hub-to-hub transfers. "We are moving freight there daily together with our customers in a real commercial setup autonomously, still with a safety driver," said Sasko Cuklev, head of On-Road Solutions at Volvo Autonomous Solutions, in an interview with FreightWaves at ACT Expo. "We are now expanding that to also cover a third lane, which is Dallas to Oklahoma City." The route eliminates the drayage segment that previously required separate first- and last-mile operations from autonomous hubs near highways.
From a current base of approximately 20 trucks, Volvo Autonomous Solutions plans to reach hundreds by late 2027. "For us, it’s important that we do it right," Cuklev said. "Better to spend a couple of extra months or extra weeks to make it right than to rush it. And then when we get it right, I think the expansion will come naturally."
| Milestone | Timeline | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Remove safety drivers (Texas) | Q1 2027 | Fully driverless operations on U.S. highways |
| Reach 300+ autonomous trucks | End of 2027 | Scaling from ~20 trucks currently |
| Industrial scaling | 2028 | Platform for broader deployment |
| Projected autonomous revenue | Within 5 years | Approximately $3 billion |
Economic Case: Doubling Asset Utilization
In trucking, the economic case for driverless operations centers on asset utilization. Trucks that sit idle during parts of the day can operate around the clock with autonomous technology, unbound by human hours-of-service rules. "The most important impact? Doubling asset utilization," Volvo Autonomous Solutions stated in its Capital Markets Day presentation. "This is a change the industry cannot ignore." Cuklev noted that realizing those gains requires more than autonomous-capable trucks. The company has built an uptime network with its dealers across operating lanes to ensure high availability. "One of the big benefits with autonomous is that you should be able to utilize the truck much, much more than a manually driven truck," Cuklev said. "But in order to do that, you need to have the truck available and high uptime. So that is super important, and sometimes it feels like we don’t talk about that enough."
Network Expansion and Customer Integration
Volvo Autonomous Solutions is pursuing aggressive network growth based on customer demand. Phoenix, Atlanta, San Antonio and Laredo are under consideration. California has become particularly attractive following recent regulatory changes opening the state to autonomous trucking. "We are expanding based on our customers, where they want us to go," Cuklev said. "See it as we are starting around Dallas, and then we are expanding from there, expanding the network." The company unlocked the Oklahoma City lane with partner Aurora Innovation in approximately four to six weeks, demonstrating how quickly driverless deployment capabilities have matured.
For fleet operators and shippers, Cuklev offered direct advice: "If you’re a customer, engage. Start to engage with us, and we will sit down and share the plans for how we will expand. We can start small and start to move some loads together. We learn together, we understand what this is, because one of the most important things for our customers is to guide them and help them in their own transformation."
Partner Collaboration
Aurora Innovation, one of Volvo’s technology partners since 2021, confirmed the driverless milestone in a LinkedIn post: "In Q1 2027, we’ll deploy those trucks with nobody behind the wheel in Texas." The partnership led to the 2024 debut of the Volvo VNL Autonomous integrated with the Aurora Driver and will deliver the first fully driverless commercial operations next year. Aurora described this as the culmination of years of collaboration.
The driverless deployment in Texas represents a critical step for logistics technology, demonstrating that AI-driven automation is moving from pilot programs to commercial reality. For CTOs and supply chain technology managers, the implications are clear: autonomous trucking is approaching operational maturity, and early engagement with providers like Volvo and Aurora could yield competitive advantages in route optimization, asset utilization, and cost structure.
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