Autonomous technologies could revolutionize the
trucking industry and that extends all the way to logging. It may have never
crossed your mind before, but the wooden products you use everyday could
eventually be transported by driverless truck running on electricity.
During the Goodwood Festival of Speed, technology
startup Einride unveiled its concept of an autonomous, all-electric logging
truck dubbed the T-log. The company believes it could play an important part in
an “enormous market for battery-powered AVs.”
The
Einride T-log doesn’t feature a cabin for the driver or passenger. Instead, it
consists of a small front section in place of a traditional cab. The company claims
that the T-log uses Nvidia’s Drive self-driving platform and can achieve level
4 self-driving. Consequently, it can be remote-controlled by a human operator
located hundreds of miles away. As the T-log doesn’t have a cabin, the vehicle can make do without
air conditioning, heating and other create comforts, cutting down on costs and
energy consumption.
Controlling the vehicle are a plethora of cameras,
lidars, and radars that help provide a 360-degree view of the world. Details
about the T-log’s powertrain haven’t been announced but it will be able to haul
more logs than a diesel truck of the same size thanks to the immense torque
provided by electric motors and the small cabin.
The company has yet to say if and when it will put
the T-Log into production.
