The state-of-the-art Volvo Dynamic Steering system promises to enhance maneuverability and increase driver comfort.

America’s roads can work a driver out. Take Montana, where secondary highways are steep and winding over a boulder base, blown apart by frost heaves, constantly under construction, and reduced to gravel beds—sometimes all in the same spot.

Then there’s the wind, pouring off the mountains like a train that only runs downhill. It’s not just Montana. Every state has its rough spots and deliveries into tight spaces, and every driver knows how certain highways can pound the shoulder sockets or wrench the wrists to a dull ache.

Which is exactly why Volvo is bringing Volvo Dynamic Steering (VDS) to North America in 2020. Despite active steering systems being in passenger cars for years, adapting to trucks created distinct challenges, according to Jan-Inge Svensson, Volvo senior engineer and technology specialist for Active Steering Controls.

One drive is all it took

Svensson and his team in Sweden began looking at active steering controls as far back as 2009.

“What kicked it off was a gimmick we did,” Svensson says. “We installed a dynamic steering prototype in a truck and invited managers and decision-makers to drive it. After they did, they all saw the potential of the system. It’s difficult to explain the benefits of a system like this but when you drive it yourself, you can immediately feel it and understand it.”