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Volvo Eyes $3B Autonomous Truck Business in 5 Years
Self-Driving Trucks Set to Debut in U.S. in Coming Months
Key Takeaways:
- Volvo Group said it expects autonomous trucking revenue to near $3 billion within five years as it prepares to launch driverless highway operations in the US in the first quarter.
- The company plans to deploy more than 300 autonomous trucks by 2027, with executives saying the technology could double utilization and improve fleet productivity.
- Volvo will scale its autonomous unit alongside broader growth plans while monitoring strong demand and rising costs tied to geopolitical tensions, executives said.
Volvo Group expects revenue from autonomous transportation to approach $3 billion within five years after starting driverless operations on U.S. highways in a few months.
Robo-trucks are set to start driving in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2027, with more than 300 autonomous rigs on highways by the end of 2027, Nils Jaeger, who heads of company’s autonomous unit, said June 10 during an investor meeting.
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“We are a first mover and we are here to scale this business,” Jaeger said, adding that the scaling in the autonomous trucking market would be faster than that of robotaxis.
The timeline marks Volvo’s clearest road map yet for turning autonomous trucking into a meaningful business. The targets come as investor interest in the sector grows, with driverless Swedish startup Einride AB making its New York Stock Exchange debut on June 10. Volvo is betting that transport without someone at the wheel can boost fleet economics and become a meaningful source of future growth.
Volvo Autonomous Solutions' Jaeger said autonomous trucks could double vehicle utilization by operating beyond the legal driving limits of human drivers, helping fleets address chronic labor shortages while improving productivity.
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Jaeger
“A human truck driver can only operate 10 to 11 hours a day. Our autonomous truck is always available. We will add significant transport capacity,” he noted.
Road safety would improve too, said the executive, noting: “Our autonomous truck is never tired; it is always awake. It sees with modern sensors much further than the human eye can see.”
Volvo’s Autona/freight unit is key to the company’s revenue expectations.
The unit exited stealth mode in the spring of 2025, with Jaegar pulling back the curtain at the 2025 Advanced Clean Transportation Expo and VAS rolling out an online reservation program in May 2025. Among the first customers was DHL Supply Chain.
“Transport as a service … will unlock the large-scale adoption of autonomous trucking because we remove the main barriers for market entry. By offering autonomy as a fully managed service, we lower the upfront capital requirement and we will shift the operational safety, the regulatory responsibility away from the customer,” Jaeger told analysts and investors at the June 10 event.
VAS is working with two self-driving software vendors: Aurora Innovation and Waabi.
Production of factory-built VNL Autonomous tractors equipped with Aurora Driver began at the end of 2025 at Volvo Trucks North America’s New River Valley production plant in Dublin, Va.
The goals were among several growth initiatives unveiled at the event at in Sweden. Volvo also sees its truck unit and construction equipment business growing faster than their historical rates.
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Lundtsedt
CEO Martin Lundstedt said demand for transport and infrastructure solutions will continue to grow despite geopolitical uncertainty.
In a trading update, Chief Financial Officer Mats Backman added that customer demand remained solid in Europe through April and May, while North American demand continued to be strong, with Volvo now taking orders for the third and fourth quarters and gradually increasing production capacity.
Rising freight and raw-material costs linked to tensions in the Middle East are pushing up cost inflation and will affect second-quarter costs, the CFO said.
Transport Topics Staff Reporter Keiron Greenhalgh contributed to this article.
