Technology

Volvo Trucks expands Customer Center track for ADAS testing

Aug. 28, 2023

For customers, the Dublin, Virginia, site has tripled its track length and added grading and a simulated hazard so they can test their trucks, many equipped with Volvo Dynamic Steering.

Scott Keith

The Volvo Trucks Customer Center in Dublin, Virginia, has completed construction that will triple the size of its now three-mile testing course. The additions include two elevations designed to demonstrate radius and grade changes, as well as a one-mile straightaway for customers to accelerate to highway speeds.

“The Volvo Customer Center illustrates further investment in Volvo Trucks’ footprint in North America where customers can demo entire product lines of our new battery-electric truck models and vocational vehicles while being safely guided by our team of skilled CDL drivers,” said Rob Simpson, director of the Volvo Trucks Customer Center. “VDS [Volvo Dynamic Steering] is transforming how drivers operate by eliminating much of the work behind the wheel while reducing strain for better comfort and enabling safer and easier steering. Customers can test all the safety and driver comfort features on the customer experience track designed with new S-curves and concrete curb drops that simulate a real-world truck driving experience.”

The new customer experience track includes grade changes with a 6-7% increase at its steepest points and tighter S-curves. The track also features an 8-inch concrete curb drop used to simulate what drivers might experience in real-world situations, allowing customers to test the VDS system.

“The concrete curb is exactly like the curb you’ll find on the side of a road with an 8-inch drop from the road surface to the concrete ditch. The driver drives into the curb so that the left tire drops into that 8-inch ditch and then immediately steers to the right to come back onto the road surface,” Simpson said. “Without VDS, the steering wheel would be jerked hard to the left, and the driver would fight to maintain control. The steering system, which was designed to further bolster the safety of our trucks, dampens that violent input so the driver doesn’t have to deal with that hard pull from the steering wheel.”