SKF tests autonomous and electrical transport of goods

SKF is now testing a self-driving electric truck together with the tech company Einride, to transport goods on a public road between the factory and the warehouse in Gothenburg.  

Einride was the first company in the world to drive electric, self-driving truck on public roads for commercial purposes already in 2018."We have decided to reduce our CO2 impact by 40 percent from freight transport over a ten-year period until 2025. 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", says Mattias Axelsson Global Logistics Manager at SKF.

For SKF, autonomous vehicles are nothing new. Today self-driving trucks are used, known as Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV), inside factories and warehouses. There are also advanced plans to develop a solution for autonomous loading and unloading of the autonomous truck, which can carry up to ten 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. Together with them, we will learn and grow quickly," says Jonas Hernlund, Commercial Manager at Einride.