Self-driving freight trucks to be tested on SH 130 in Central Texas

Einride to test self-driving trucks on SH 130

You've seen self-driving cars in Austin, but you might soon see self-driving freight trucks in Central Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas - You've seen self-driving cars in Austin, but you might soon see self-driving freight trucks in Central Texas. 

The backstory:

Swedish company Einride is partnering with SH 130 Concession Company to do tests from roughly Mustang Ridge to Seguin. 

They've done some initial studies and need to do more data gathering. 

CEO Roozbeh Charli says they hope to have the first test on the road by the end of this year and expand from there. 

Einride already operates in some cities in the U.S. and Europe. They're already shipping with companies like Pepsi, GE, and Heineken.

Credit: Einride

"They are on the roads, on public roads, and operating today. It's just about the complexity of the environments and expanding that from the industrial areas, for example, to higher speed applications and highway applications over time," Charli said. 

The electric fleet is powered by AI. Einride says autonomous trucks can reduce costs and increase safety and efficiency because they don't need truck drivers and fuel. 

According to their website, Einride finds high-volume routes where autonomy would help. They look at infrastructure and traffic conditions. The routes are digitally modeled, and the entire system is tested. 

Dig deeper:

New technology also comes with concerns.

FOX 7 Austin asked, "In Austin, we have self-driving cars. We have Waymos. Some people get annoyed by them because they stop in the middle of the road, or they don't seem to know what to do. What would you say to people who might be concerned about self-driving trucks?"

"This is why the sort of gradual journey and safety and validation becomes so important. That's what we've done with all the applications and the public road permits that we have to date and where we've had them in operation. It's a step-wise approach of showing out, proving the safety case to the regulators and to the communities. We have a responsibility as an industry for exactly the point that you raised of making sure that we can prove that we're safe and how we can safely run operations. That's what we're doing through the test beds and through the validation together with the regulators," Charli said.

What's next:

Einride's U.S. headquarters is in Austin. The company also plans to go public on the stock exchange.