Electric and autonomous trucking company Einride is expanding its presence in the United Kingdom, joining their previous market expansions in Europe. This move for the Swedish-based company is expected to target the 1.6 billion tonnes of goods that are transported by road freight in the U.K annually. Partnering with PepsiCo’s snack-food subsidiary Walkers, Einride’s electric trucks are projected to make their maiden voyage between the cities of Leicester and Coventry which could save up to 250,000 miles of fossil fuel-powered transport.
PepsiCo will be trialing the trucks in an extensive three-year pilot before finalizing any route expansions. This breakthrough partnership is one in a series of collaborations between Einride and notable companies such as Electrolux in Germany, and GE Appliances in the U.S. Both entities have served as pilot partners for Einride’s fully autonomous pods.
Einride is setting its sight on establishing a “freight mobility grid” on heavily trafficked freight routes, starting with the Midlands then extending to major cities such as Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and London. They first emerged into the market back in 2016, pioneering an innovative cab-less, self-driving cargo truck controlled remotely by a human operator that requires no human workers.
Just this past year, Einride was able to raise a whopping $500 million in funding from a bevy of investors, including $300 million in debt-financing from Barclays Europe. This valuable cushion is allowing them to add an additional fleet of vehicles as they strive to expand their footprint worldwide in North America and Europe.
Einride is a Swedish based technology company founded in 2016. The goal of their business is to pioneer new sustainable transport systems and utilize new and emerging technologies to reduce the carbon footprint of freight transportation. By using electric vehicles and a cloud-based platform to maximize efficiency and performance, Einride has positioned itself as a leader within sustainable freight transportation.
PepsiCo’s head of sustainability, Archana Jagannathan, spoke highly of this initial deployment, expressing her hopes that this roll-out helps better understand the potential role electric trucks can play in their operations. With the three-year trial in full effect, the partnership between PepsiCo and Einride could lead to a revolutionary change within the freight industry.
