Volvo predicts a decade of design changes for trucks 03 June 2010

The design director at Volvo Truck Corporation is predicting a big change in the design of trucks over the next 10 years. Rickard Orell made the announcement as he unveiled the manufacturer's own vision of the future, Concept Truck 2020.

Orell and his team believe that the future will be long combinations, controlled by autopilot, driven non-stop in nose-to-tail convoys on green super-motorways linking the continents. To some this may seem ambitious, but the Volvo man is convinced it will happen.

"Progress is getting ever faster," says Orell. "Because of this, our vision for the future is not that far away. Much of the technology in the Volvo Concept Truck 2020 is already available; other technology needs to be developed. One needs to dare to stride firmly into the debate, demonstrating what one can and will do. Just tinkering at the edges runs the risk of progress slipping away."

One of Volvo's ideas for 2020 is to have vehicles linked together wirelessly into long road-trains that travel cross-country at 56mph (90km/h). "This will be possible when the transport sector's vision of green corridors becomes reality," believes Orell. "Here heavy goods vehicles are separated from other traffic, driving in their own lanes, rather like a railway, but without the rails."

Author
John Challen

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