Waabi and Volvo Autonomous Solutions announced the start of commercial operations in Texas for Warp, the first customer operation in the Volvo-Waabi partnership. 

With the Volvo VNL Autonomous powered by the Waabi Driver, are hauling freight directly to third-party facilities for Warp Technology, a freight network providing less-than-truckload and full-truckload services for carriers and shippers.

The trucks currently operate with an observer in the driver’s seat, according to the companies. 

Autonomous Trucks and Less-Than-Truckload Operations

The operations use Volvo Autonomous Solutions’ Autona / freight offering, which combines the truck and autonomous driving technology with fleet and transport management, terminals, customer facilities, operations, and uptime support.

Integrating V.A.S.’ autonomous transport ecosystem Autona / freight into Warp’s freight network creates opportunities to optimize freight flows and support more efficient movement of goods as demand grows. Autona / freight brings together the Volvo VNL Autonomous, Waabi’s autonomous driving technology, fleet and transport management, terminals and customer endpoints, operations, and uptime support to deliver a complete transport solution designed to scale.

LTL shipping requires dynamic networks to consolidate, haul, and distribute goods from multiple customers on tightly coordinated schedules. By moving freight directly between facilities, without handoffs, the Volvo VNL Autonomous powered by the Waabi Driver gives LTL providers like Warp a more predictable way to keep their networks on schedule, according to the announcement.

The Volvo-Waabi Partnership

This marks the start of commercial operations between Waabi and Volvo Autonomous Solutions, the next major milestone in their partnership. Volvo and Waabi plan to use experience from the Dallas-Houston operations to prepare for additional routes.

In June, Waabi announced that its AI-powered virtual driver successfully transferred to Volvo Autonomous Solutions' Volvo VNL Autonomous platform without retraining or additional data, a milestone the companies said could dramatically accelerate commercialization of autonomous trucks.

In 2024, Waabi announced a new facility near Dallas that would serve as its Texas home base and a working autonomous truck terminal.

Volvo Group invested in Waabi in 2023. Waabi unveiled its AI-first autonomous technology in 2022.

Texas and Autonomous Trucks

Texas has become a hotbed for autonomous truck operations. Over the past couple of years, a number of other autonomous-truck tech companies and their OE partners have announced testing and even commercial operations, including:

• Aurora
• International
• PlusAI
• Torc Robotics