Capital Economy, Business and Finance
Much of the attention on driverless vehicles has been focused on robotaxis, but haulage could be where the money is.
A Swedish driverless lorry start-up called Einride is contemplating a stock market listing later this year, with expectations it could be worth $5 billion.
No wonder. The road freight industry is worth $4.6 trillion globally, the online shopping boom shows no sign of slowing, and there’s a truck driver shortage.
Plus, it’s much simpler to program autonomous vehicle software for motorways and trunk roads (on which lorries spend most of their time) than busy city streets.
Einride says it will soon launch electric driverless trucking operations in the UAE.
Volvo sees the opportunity too, and is making headway on a freight partnership with Uber and FedEx in Texas.
Their success will rely less on stellar technology than the affordability of reliable high-capacity batteries, and on Scandi-grade recharging infrastructure.
