Einride, a company based in Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden, has a vision that lowers these hurdles slowing the adoption of both alternative energy and self-driving technologies in hauling. The key change? Take the driver out of the vehicle with a hybrid of self-driving and remote control.
Einride plans to have their driverless (windowless, even) T-pods plying the route between Gothenburg and Helsingborg by 2020. The 7-meter (23- feet) long vehicle can carry 15 standard pallets and up to 20 tons. The trucks roll through their highway distances in fully automated mode. But when they near population centers, the T-pods can be put under remote control, with a human managing the navigation.
With no paid personnel on board to be bored and useless during long charging cycles, electric motors begin to make more sense. The T-pods can travel 200 km (124 miles) on a single charge, and stops at charging stations add little to the overall costs of haulage compared to traditional rigs that have down-time during driver resting periods. Remote drivers can simply switch their attention to a different vehicle when one T-pod stops for recharging. Which is a good thing, because even the run up and down the Swedish coastline between Gothenburg and Helsingborg may be a bit out of range without a top-up along the way.
Maybe all those hours playing Starcraft did not go to waste after all--perfect training to be an Einride operator.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday April 19 2017, @06:11AM
So these self-driving vehicles will really only follow straight roads by themselves because city traffic is too complex. They need to use batteries with charge and discharge inefficiencies and expose other drivers to life threatening dangers because.. profit. How about one could make some vehicle that follow a straight path and won't expose others to excessive traffic collision risks and combine it with direct power transfer of electricity. They can even take 1500 ton of cargo compared to 60 ton for this truck. Hmm.. let's call it Trains! This idea is stupid. There are railways. So use them! They don't even have to enter the city if that's what's desired.