Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Waabi announced Monday they are hauling freight for Warp, the first customer operation in the companies’ partnership. Volvo VNL Autonomous trucks running the Waabi Driver are moving Warp freight directly to third-party facilities on the Dallas-Houston corridor, with an observer in the driver’s seat.
Warp runs less-than-truckload and full-truckload freight through a single network and lists Walmart, DoorDash, and Gopuff among its customers. CEO Daniel Sokolovsky founded AxleHire before Warp emerged from stealth in 2022.
“Warp is a fantastic example where we can demonstrate the value of driving next-level efficiency for LTL consolidation, and remind people that hours-of-service benefits do not necessarily need to translate into a coast-to-coast, team-driving unlock,” said Lior Ron, COO of Waabi, in an interview with FreightWaves. “They can also help drive efficiency on a Dallas-Houston corridor, and continuous consolidation and efficiency of the LTL network.”
LTL linehaul often runs slip-seat, with one driver taking a tractor for a shift and the next driver picking it up after. Federal rules cap each driver at 11 hours behind the wheel after 10 consecutive hours off duty.
“Imagine a future where you can run those networks and consolidate on a continuous basis without hours of service, and just drive efficiency and utilization,” Ron said.
Ron said scheduling and balancing those networks gets harder “with what’s happening in the market now, between capacity exiting the market and fuel.” He said demand for autonomy has grown since he last spoke with FreightWaves.
“The value of autonomy grows when you can coordinate the freight around it,” Sokolovsky said in the announcement. “Warp brings together shipments from multiple customers and aligns routes, capacity, and timing, so advances on a single lane can benefit the broader network.”
Driverless Waits on Volvo’s Purpose-Built Truck
Waabi trained its software on a Peterbilt 579 test fleet and moved it to the Volvo VNL Autonomous without retraining this summer. The Volvo truck carries redundancies for six safety-critical systems, according to the announcement.
Ron said Waabi believes a driverless truck should come from an OEM’s factory, fully redundant and validated by the manufacturer.
“Although we are ready, we are choosing not to retrofit our way into driverless, and to wait until Volvo is ready,” Ron said. “The good news is Volvo is on track. You see their public commitments, and we are fully on track for driverless next year, with Volvo as the first OEM platform.”
Volvo expects to begin installing Waabi’s system in the first quarter of 2027, Forbes reported last month.
Opening Lanes Without Retraining
Last month, Waabi’s truck ran the Dallas-San Antonio lane for the first time with zero disengagements. Ron said Waabi maps a new lane with a single truck pass, building a light map the system treats as another safety sensor. The truck gets no autonomy training on the lane, he said.
Waabi has cut the time to open a lane from three months to three weeks, and with San Antonio, to none, Ron said.
“What changes is the ask,” Ron said. Waabi no longer has to ask a shipper whether it has loads moving from Dallas to Houston. It can ask where the shipper’s most acute pain point is, the same conversation Ron said he had with customers at Uber Freight, which he founded and ran as CEO.
“Let’s solve those pain points with autonomy now, versus waiting for autonomy to catch up,” he said.
During a keynote at a supply chain executive conference in Las Vegas last month, Ron asked the audience who had ridden in a Waymo. About three-quarters raised a hand. About half raised a hand when he asked who wants to deploy autonomy in their network in the next three years.
“We’re on track, and we’re seeing massive customer demand,” Ron said. “It’s crazy, because we’re beyond the early adopters now.”
The post Waabi takes its autonomous truck pitch beyond truckload appeared first on FreightWaves.
