On 15 May the world‘s first cab-less, electric truck – Einride‘s T-pod – drove on a public road in Sweden.

The world premiere and inaugural run took place at DB Schenker‘s facility in Jönköping, Sweden. The T-pod will transport goods between a warehouse and terminal at the facility.

Einride founder and CEO Robert Falck, DB Schenker CEO Jochen Thewes, and DB Schenker Cluster Sweden, Denmark, Iceland CEO Mats Grundius hosted the inauguration ceremony.

“This day represents a major milestone in Einride‘s history, and for our movement to create a safe, efficient and sustainable transport solution, based on autonomous, electric vehicles, that has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from road freight transport by up to 90 percent,” said Falck.

Thewes said autonomous trucks would become increasingly important for the logistics sector.

“Together with Einride, we have now introduced autonomous, fully electric trucks to a continuous flow on a public road – a milestone in the transition to the transport system of tomorrow,” he said.

In November 2018, Einride and DB Schenker initiated the first installation of a T-pod at a DB Schenker facility in Jönköping, Sweden, the first commercial installation of its kind in the world.

In March the Swedish Transport Agency concluded the T-pod was able to operate in accordance with Swedish traffic regulations, and approved Einride‘s application to expand the pilot to a public road. The permit applies to a public road within an industrial area – between a warehouse and a terminal – and is valid until December 31, 2020.

Einride and DB Schenker entered into a commercial agreement in April that includes the pilot in Jönköping and an option for additional pilots internationally.

T-Pod has an electronically limited top speed of 85 km/h, but during this testing period of initial deliveries, the Swedish Transport Agency has limited its speed to 5 km/h. The vehicle uses a 200 kWh battery, which Einride say can take T-Pod up to 200km on one charge. When fully loaded, T-Pod weighs 26 tons.

Last year, Einride unveiled another all-electric, autonomous truck – T-Log, a log truck.