Einride’s drone truck first full-time job moving GE appliances around
by Umar Shakir, The Verge
The Swedish autonomous trucking company Einride is using its cab-less electric delivery vehicles in Selmer, Tennessee, to move items from GE Appliances’ manufacturing plant to a warehouse.
In a statement, GE Appliances’ senior director of central materials, Harry Chase, claims the truck increases safety by reducing traffic and eliminates some tasks since workers don’t have to hook and unhook trailers. These trucks are part of a larger project “to create an automated logistics flow,” with AI cameras that automatically trigger the doors at the dock as well as a Slip robot that autonomously loads and unloads the vehicle.
Since Einride’s truck does not use a human driver, its technology is considered Level 4 autonomous. In 2017, the company revealed its first T-Pod design that maximized interior space since there was no need for seats or a steering wheel. Einride then showed off a more powerful prototype called the T-Log in 2018, which led to the 2020 design, dubbed the Autonomous Electric Transport (AET).
This article first appeared at TheVerge on November 13, 2023.