Autonomous cars and trucks are still in development and years away from real-world deployment. However, many types of off-road vehicles are already emerging for daily use in agriculture, construction, mining, port logistics and other applications.
ESKILSTUNA, Sweden—Volvo Construction Equipment is building a test and demonstration facility here to showcase autonomous, connected and electric vehicle technology.
Autonomous off-highway vehicles are a growing presence around the globe, from Norwegian mines to Brazilian sugar cane fields, and while limited access sites foster more controllable environments, rough and tumble usage raises a host of other challenges.
While the trend of autonomous driving is also catching on in off-highway vehicles, the use cases are very different compared to on-road vehicles where the main purpose is to move from Point A to Point B on their own with help of onboard sensors and systems.