The future of commercial road transportation, if Sweden-based Einride were to have its say, could feature fully autonomous battery-electric semis. It may sound a bit farfetched at the moment, but perhaps that future isn't so far away.
Einride, founded in 2016, already has a global technology presence in the digital, electric, and autonomous spaces—it put its first autonomous EV on a public road back in 2019—and now it's successfully achieved what could be the future of road freight: the completion of the world's first cabless electric and fully autonomous border crossing in Orje, Norway.
In other words, a pure battery-electric, driverless rig is technically possible, though the press release didn't specify the load it was carrying.
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This milestone marks a significant step forward for autonomous cross-border transport, which expands on Einride's already established strong foundation in industrial freight.
Norwegian Customs (officially called Tolletaten) is backing the project, seeing automation as a big part of the future. To make the border crossing smoother, Einride teamed up with Q-Free to connect to Norway's Digitoll system, letting them declare goods ahead of time and clear customs without delays.
Einride's autonomous EV semi at the Swedish-Norwegian border.Einride
The autonomous border crossing was a joint Swedish-Norwegian effort involving partners like Statens Vegvesen, Sintef, Q-Free, Trafikverket, and Ostfold kommune. The crossing was carried out for PostNord, which ships nearly 200 million parcels a year across the Nordic region.
The end result was Einride successfully demonstrating how its electric autonomous tech can boost safety, efficiency, and sustainability by seamlessly combining its cabless vehicle, proprietary self-driving system (internally called Einride Driver), and a smart fleet management platform.
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"We are immensely proud to have completed the world's first cabless, electric, fully autonomous cross-border delivery," said Henrik Green, CTO and general manager for Einride Autonomous Technologies. "We are dedicated to continuously extending our capabilities into new applications, showcasing how autonomous technology can enhance transportation safety, efficiency, and sustainability. The MODI project perfectly embodies this commitment, assisting in the realization of EU value-based objectives by thoughtfully balancing safety with innovation."
