Meet Einride driverless truck – The first fully electric, totally autonomous transport vehicle to operate on a public road in the world.
Technology doesn’t get cooler than this.
Sweden-based Einride has revealed its first autonomous freight truck concept it hopes to have on the roads as early as next year. With remote monitoring and operation capability, operators can oversee and control the Pod on-demand, with no need for a human driver onboard. Being cabless the autonomous truck allows a greater storage capacity, while the minimalistic design allows the automotive manufacturer to more easily scale up production.
Freight mobility designed, refined.
In 2019 Einride became the first in the world to drive a fully autonomous and electric heavy transport vehicle on a public road, and has been testing and operating Pods at select customer sites in Sweden. Now, businesses around the world can reserve the future of freight and start shipping sustainably and cost-competitively with Autonomous Electric Transport (AET) coordinated by the intelligent freight mobility platform.
“We started this journey in 2016 with a dream to build a better future through technology. Years of hard work and dedication from the whole team at Einride have made us the leader in AET, and today we are taking the next step to bring our solutions to the world and ramp up the transition to a more sustainable future of transport,” said Robert Falck, CEO and founder of Einride.
The Pod’s iconic shape has been refined for the next generation to improve functionality and to prepare it for production at scale. The rounded edges and features give it a more aerodynamic shape for improved performance, but do not impede on cargo capacity.
Each autonomous vehicle is equipped with an electric drivetrain, proprietary telematics hardware that interfaces with the freight mobility platform, and autonomous drive hardware such as LIDAR, cameras, and sensors on each Pod.
The Next Gen Pod is designed to operate in different applications, and can be ordered and installed in early 2021.
For the first time, the Pod is available for reservation for those looking to transition away from the analog, inefficient diesel transport solutions of today to a freight mobility solution that is safer, more sustainable, and more cost-effective.
The launch was kicked off with a video filmed by Swedish artist Alexander Wessely and featuring the symphony “Einride” by Jacob Mühlrad played on a player piano.
From fenced to freeway: Introducing AET functionality levels
Most self-driving vehicles are designated by SAE J3016 levels of autonomy, ranging from purely assistive (level 0) to fully autonomous, able to drive anywhere on their own under any conditions (level 5). However, these standards rely on some level of human operation as a baseline. The Pod has no driver’s compartment whatsoever, so it was necessary for Einride to develop a proprietary methodology for describing the use cases for Autonomous Electric Transport (AET).
“The Pod is a completely novel vehicle, and therefore doesn’t fit into existing standards, even for cutting-edge technologies like autonomy. We created the AET classification system based on use cases for a driverless, electric freight vehicle. With this approach, we are able to develop and scale our capabilities in the most common and appropriate use cases for freight, with the ultimate goal of automating as much of the transport network as possible,” said Pär Degerman, CTO of Einride.
The AET classification system ranges from levels 1 to 5, and levels 1 to 4 are available for pre-order based on individual business needs. AET 1 (Fenced) is ideal for closed facilities with predetermined routes that are best suited for fully-autonomous operation. AET 2 (Nearby) includes closed facility operation, but adds the capability to traverse public roads over short distances between destinations. Both AET 1 and 2 Pods are available for reservation now, and will begin shipping to customers starting next year.
Reserve for the future
Businesses will be able to get access to AET 1 and 2 already today and reserve AET 3 and 4 with deliveries in 2022 -2023. Both ordering and reservation can be done directly through Einride’s website for an initial cost of $1,500 and additional $8,500 to be invoiced following the reservation.
In addition to the $10,000 reservation fee, businesses will be responsible for an operational fee of approximately $18,000 per month for AET 1 and $19,000 per month for AET 2. Pods with AET 3 will cost $20,000 per month to operate, while AET 4 will include a monthly cost of $22,500. The subscription fee includes access to the Einride freight mobility platform which will coordinate and operate the Pods, overseen by Einride-certified remote operators. Subscription fees are liable to change based on individual use cases.
“We can already see a strong traction from the market to start using autonomous and electric transport. The benefits are clear and we want to be the player in the market that can help our customers to make the transition to a better future of transport happen,” said Robert Falck.
