Photo: SKF. 
Photo: SKF.
SKF is now testing a self-driving electric truck with Einride, to transport goods on a public road between its factory and warehouse in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Einride was the first company in the world to drive electric, self-driving trucks on public roads for commercial purposes in 2018.
“We have decided to reduce our CO2 impact by 40 per cent from freight transport over a ten-year period until 2025,” said Mattias Axelsson, Global Logistics Manager, SKF. “We therefore review our entire logistics flow from a CO2 perspective. This is an example of initiatives that give us new opportunities to create efficient, sustainable and autonomous logistics flows that contribute to our goals.”
For SKF, self-driving trucks (automated guided vehicles) are used, inside factories and warehouses. There are plans to develop a solution for autonomous loading and unloading of the autonomous truck, which can carry up to 10 tonnes at a time. However, driving driverless vehicles on public roads requires a special permit from the Swedish Transport Agency, which the two companies plan to apply for together.
“With the partnership with SKF, we now have customers in all our priority customer segments: trade, consumer goods and industrial goods, which we are very proud of,” said Jonas Hernlund, Commercial Manager, Einride. “Together with them, we will learn and grow quickly.”
