Volvo and Waabi Ready Driverless Truck for U.S. Freight Testing

• Waabi’s end-to-end driving system is now embedded in Volvo’s purpose-built autonomous truck.
• The integrated platform enters testing in 2025, with production already underway at Volvo’s New River Valley plant.

Waabi’s virtual driver is now officially under the hood of Volvo’s autonomous truck. The two companies have completed system integration, linking Waabi’s end-to-end driving software with the Volvo VNL Autonomous—a production-ready rig built with safety-critical redundancies. Testing begins in 2025, with production already underway at Volvo’s New River Valley plant.

“The future of autonomous trucking hinges on three critical areas: autonomous technology that is safe, scalable, and can deliver on customer needs; hardware that is purpose-built for autonomous operations from the ground up; and a commercial deployment model that solves problems in the supply chain without added friction,” said Raquel Urtasun, Founder and CEO of Waabi, in an official news release. “Together with Volvo, we are leading autonomous trucking forward. The Volvo VNL Autonomous, powered by the Waabi Driver, is the next step in ushering in a stronger, safer, and more efficient era in transportation.”

The Waabi Driver is designed to safely handle both highways and surface streets, with a system Waabi describes as the only end-to-end model that is interpretable and verifiable. Trained in a high-fidelity neural simulator, it’s built for fast, scalable deployment within today’s logistics networks. It’s now integrated into the Volvo VNL Autonomous—a truck engineered for driverless operation, with redundant systems for braking, steering, and communication.

With the integration complete, both companies are preparing for commercial rollout. Volvo first invested in Waabi in 2023 and joined its $200 million Series B round. They now aim to bring the combined platform into real-world operations, targeting broad deployment across the trillion-dollar North American freight market.

🌀 Tom’s Take:

Autonomous freight is heating up. Waabi and Volvo’s integration lands the same week Aurora launched a second driverless route and NVIDIA outlined plans to scale long-haul autonomy using its DRIVE AGX Hyperion 10 system.

Source: Waabi