Volvo Trucks Bolsters Maintenance Plan With AI
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Volvo Trucks North America has expanded its maintenance program with artificial intelligence to improve adaptive maintenance and uptime, the company announced Oct. 13.
Volvo's Blue Service Contract is a dealer-managed preventive maintenance plan designed to maximize fleet uptime and efficiency. The AI models being incorporated into the service will act as an adaptive maintenance system that adjusts service intervals dynamically based on factors like fuel consumption, idle time and oil samples.
“The Blue Service Contract is a lot more than your traditional [preventive maintenance] agreement,” Magnus Gustafson, vice president of connected services at VTNA, said at a news conference. “It’s really an ownership experience, generating peace of mind, knowing that your trucks are taken care of the way they’re meant to be. We’re also bringing a lot more flexibility, both from a finance option, from payment options, and more importantly, flexibility when it comes to contract content.”
VTNA introduced the expansion during American Trucking Associations’ 2024 Management Conference & Exhibition. The announcement highlighted that the data-driven approach replaces traditional static intervals with customized and optimized schedules. The system is designed to maximize uptime by consolidating services into fewer planned stops.
“It’s really about maximizing uptime and optimizing planned stops,” Gustafson said. “Our Blue Service Contracts are powered by our connected vehicle services platform. We call that adaptive maintenance. Adaptive maintenance is really an AI model that runs in the background that optimizes every planned event, ensuring that our customers take the most advantage of our connected vehicle and reducing the most stops possible.”
Gustafson speaks at TMC 2024 in New Orleans in March. (John Sommers II/Transport Topics)
Gustafson highlighted that the agreement is set up to recognize that each customer has their own individual needs. He also noted that new dealer standards are being introduced. Each service contract sold by dealers comes with a dedicated fleet maintenance manager. Their primary purpose is ensuring that trucks that come in are running at peak performance.
“Our Blue Service Contracts are also bundled with our suite of connected services offerings,” Gustafson said. “We call that Uptime Care. And Uptime Care includes Volvo Connect. It is our digital customer portal where a Volvo customer can interface with all our different services, including remote diagnostics, remote programming, and reporting and analytics. It’s really about simplifying the information that’s coming off these trucks and turning it into actionable information.”
VTNA noted that the new features are enabled by its integrated connectivity solutions. These systems monitor all trucks that are connected to the 24/7 Volvo Trucks Uptime Center. This allows fleet managers and their dealers to monitor and manage trucks. The Blue Service Contract leverages this connectivity to help technicians.
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