Swedish startup Einride introduced the concept of an unmanned electric truck T-Pod, which does not have a driver's cab, but has a remote control function.
Einride said that the possibility of remote management will improve the working conditions of truck drivers. One driver can manage several trucks remotely. "This will revolutionize truck driving, as drivers can rest and take coffee breaks whenever they want," said Robert Falk, Einride's CEO.
The length of the car is 7 meters, and the weight is 18 tons. The battery charge will be enough for 200 kilometers of travel.
Although the real prototype T-Pod is not yet ready, the compaElectric truck T-Pod.ny promises to begin testing the truck before the end of 2017, and by 2020 to launch 200 such trucks on the roads. It is assumed that the trucks will run on the route between the Swedish cities of Gothenburg and Helsingborg.
At the moment, several companies around the world are engaged in the development of unmanned trucks, including the American Otto (bought by Uber in 2016) and the Russian automaker KamAZ. Recently, Google filed a lawsuit against Otto, accusing the co-founders of the company of stealing technology and luring employees after leaving Google.