Swedish manufacturer Einride has just presented a
full-scale prototype of the autonomous electric truck it wants to see on the
Scandinavian nation’s streets in the coming years.
Dubbed the T-pod, the eyebrow-raising vehicle is
being sold as more than a self-driving truck and instead an entirely new form
of transportation. Without any space inside for a driver to sit, the T-pod is
able to maximize carrying capacity and according to Einride, can hold 15
pallets of goods, despite only being 7 meters in length.
Einride has adopted a unique approach when designing
the T-pod and equipped it with a unique autonomous driving system. This setup
means that on highways, the truck can drive itself without any human
intervention while on narrower and more technical city roads, it becomes a big
remote-controlled vehicle with a driver operating it from an offsite location.
Einride intends on having a fleet of 200 T-pods
driving around Sweden by 2020 and will kick off the project with a route between
Gothenburg and Helsingborg.
