Electric driverless truck on public road [Dec 07, 2018]
Swedish autonomous vehicle start-up Einride and German logistics group DB Schenker are set to gain regulatory approval, allowing an all-electric, driverless truck to carry freight on a public road
Einride, which is operating pilot Top speed: 85km/hr project in Jonkoping, hopes fleet Cargo capacity: 15 standard pallets of 200 T-Pods will connect cities Weight with full cargo: 20 tonnes of Gothenburg and Helsingborg, Battery capacity: 200kWh 200km apart, by 2020 Range on single charge: 200km
Camera: Can read lane markings and traffic signs
laser | beam.reflected girfotating mirror “surveys _surroundings
Radar: Electromagnetic pulse measures location and speed of objects at more than
150 metres . Operator sitting hundreds of kilometres away can supervise up to 10 vehicles at once
The two groups said the permit would be a world first, enabling the commercial operation of a battery-powered truck to operate without a driver, following a pilot phase in operation since early November.
Einride and DB Schenker each said they expected to gain the permit by January.
The battery-electric T-pod can provide emission-free transportation at a cost that’s competitive with conventional diesel trucks, Einride claims.
The T-pod, designed to carry up to15 standard European pal- lets, is about seven metres long and weighs 20 tonnes at full ca- pacity. Its battery capacity is 200 kilowatt hours, enabling a range of about 200 km ona single charge. _ In Sweden, Einride is devel- oping a T-pod route with char- ging infrastructure between Gothenburg and Helsingborg, cities separated by about 200 km. Einride aims to have 200 T- pods operating on-that route by 2020.
The Stockholm-based com- pany described the T-pod’s self- driving capabilities as Level 4 autonomy, meaning the vehicle can handle all aspects of driving under certain condi- tions without the need for a driver to intervene. The T-pod uses lidar and radar sensors and a machine vision system to track its surroundings.
Einride plans to begin operating with one remote driver per vehicle on the road, but over time, the company aims to expand that ratio until each remote driver is overseeing about 10 vehicles.