Volvo has announced a commercial first for its autonomous trucking endeavors. The Swedish automotive company has signed a deal with Norwegian mine Brønnøy Kalk to transport limestone along five kilometers of roads and tunnels from the mine to a nearby port using self-driving trucks.

Volvo has engaged in a number of pilots in recent years to get its autonomous trucks ready for commercial projects. In Brazil, Volvo trialed self-steering trucks to help sugarcane farmers improve crop yield, and it has also tested an autonomous garbage collection truck. As early as 2016, Volvo was testing autonomous trucks in an underground mine in Sweden, part of an initiative to demonstrate the technology as a means of improving both efficiency and safety in hazardous conditions.
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