Sweden’s InRide will test autonomous trucks on US roads

Swedish autonomous-truck startup Enride AB will test its self-driving freight vehicles on public roads in the US in an operation with GE Appliances after getting approval from federal regulators.

InRide plans to place one of its chunky electric vehicles on a one-mile road between two warehouses in Tennessee for GE Appliances, a subsidiary of home appliances company Haier, with no cabs for drivers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently flagged off the company’s test run.

“It’s a step-by-step approach, and it’s a big step, because it’s actually on public roads now,” said Robert Falk, chief executive of the Stockholm-based six-year-old company.

Joining Einride’s Growing Field autonomous-truck startup In a race to get its technology on the road and bring in revenue. TuSimple Holdings Inc., based in San Diego, . companies including

aurora

Innovation Inc., and Waymo LLC, a division of Google parent

Alphabet Inc.,

announced the trials of its driverless truck technology in commercial freight operations.

Steve Viselli, University of Pennsylvania fellow and lecturer and trucking-industry expert on an advisory council for Aurora, said the freight sector is moving more quickly toward autonomous transportation. compared to the passenger-car businessPartly because the technology can lower costs and simplify operations for commercial trucking companies.

“Trucks will be the first, without a doubt, in a true driverless system, partly for the economics of it,” Mr Viselli said. “Right now, we have huge limits on how long a truck can run because it is driven by a human, who needs to sleep and use the bathroom and take a mandatory 10-hour break and other things. “

InRide calls its stubby, weirdo vehicles pods. They have room for about 10 pallets of freight, or about £57,000. There are no onboard drivers and they are managed by remote operators, who can monitor multiple vehicles at a time, according to einRide. They take remote operator actions that drivers typically take, such as calling someone when a vehicle is stuck at a gate, Mr Falk said.

iRide’s pilot program, which will run for two weeks in the third quarter of 2022, will put the pod on public roads carrying trucks and cars.

Einride signed a deal last year to deliver 300 electric trucks to the shipping giant

AP Moller-Marsky

as.

Many autonomous trucks that other companies are developing are not electric. This is partly because the return on investment does not yet account for the distance they will drive versus how long it will take them to charge, Mr Wiskelly said.

Electric vehicle companies in the US face a challenge Lack of charging infrastructure, That shouldn’t be a concern over the small section used by Einride in Tennessee, but Mr. Falk said his company is ready to build out the infrastructure needed to operate its vehicles.

write to Liz Young at liz.young@wsj.com