SKF and Einride are going to test autonomous and electric transport

The world’s largest bearing manufacturer SKF and tech company EInride have signed a pilot agreement to test Einride’s self-driving, electric truck for transporting goods on public roads between SKF’s factories in Gothenburg. 

Einride was the first in the world to drive an electric, self-driving truck on public roads for commercial purposes in 2018. Today, the company offers an intelligent software platform for electric and autonomous shipping and works together with customers like Coca-Cola European Partners, Oatly, Lidl and Electrolux. 

“With the partnership with SKF, we now have customers in all our priority segments: retail, consumer goods, and industrial goods, which we are very proud of. Together with them, we will learn and grow quickly,” says Jonas Hernlund, Chief Commercial Officer at Einride. 

For SKF, autonomous vehicles are nothing new. Today, they use self-driving trucks, so-called AGVs, inside factories and warehouses. There are also far-reaching plans to develop a solution for autonomous loading and unloading of the truck, which can carry up to ten tonnes at a time. However, operating driverless vehicles on public roads requires a special permit from the Swedish Transport Agency, which the two companies plan to apply for together. 

“We want to be proactive and try technology that gives us new opportunities to create efficient and sustainable logistics flows that contribute to our ambitious environmental goals,” says Måns Isacsson, head of SKF’s logistics in Sweden.