Self-driving truck company Einride and supermarket chain Lidl have put the first cab-less autonomous truck into regular service on public roads in Germany, the companies said on Tuesday.
The level 4 driverless vehicle is transporting goods between a Lidl distribution centre and a retail store under an official permit from Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), the first authorisation of its kind granted in the country.
Here are some details:
- The cab-less truck operates in daily logistics without a human driver or safety operator on board.
- Einride and Lidl plan to expand the initial route into a full multi-stop "milkrun" delivery network.
- The companies said the initiative was aimed at addressing commercial driver shortages and improving supply-chain reliability.
- Further deployments across other divisions of Lidl's parent company, the Schwarz Group, are currently under discussion.
- Germany's KBA granted the permit following an extensive safety validation process for real-world road conditions, the companies said.
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