A driverless truck powered by 5G is being operated at a logistics facility in Jönköping, Sweden in a pilot that involves Swedish telecoms provider Ericsson, mobile operator Telia and transport company Einride.
Ericsson Radio System and Ericsson Cloud Core for 5G are providing high performance connectivity to Einride’s T-pod, an all-electric, autonomous truck that will travel continuously to and from the DB Schenker warehouse.
According to Einride, the T-pod has no driver’s cab but is supervised and can be controlled by a human operator from hundreds of miles away. A fleet of T-pods can be coordinated by an intelligent routing system, optimising delivery time, battery life and energy consumption, making road freight transportation as efficient as possible.
Einride is a member of Telia’s 5G partner programme which provides an innovation environment where partners have opportunities to explore technical and business opportunities connected to 5G.
“5G is a very exciting technology that will enable new sustainable business opportunities and create customer value,” commented Mats Lundbäck, chief technology officer of Telia Sweden. “Together with our partners, we are building a powerful ecosystem that is going to have a deep impact for customers and society as a whole.”
The high capacity and low latency of 5G will be a key enabler of future transport solutions, allowing autonomous vehicles to be safely introduced onto public roads.
In fact, Einride claims that its T-pod and autonomous transport system, powered by 5G, could eventually replace more than 60% of today’s transport with a competitive and sustainable alternative.
“Einride’s goal is to lead a sustainable transformation of the freight transport sector,” explained Robert Falck, CEO and founder of Einride. “And while we do this, security must remain our highest priority. 5G offers the connectivity and reliability required to safely launch T-pods on public roads, which, in turn, will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and completely eliminate nitrogen oxides.”
Within Osborne Clarke’s recent Next-Generation Connectivity report Jeff Travers, Head of IoT at Ericsson states “digital transformation is a boardroom issue in pretty much every company worldwide right now, addressing how connectivity might change their engagement with the customer… these conversations will lead them very quickly to “We must be more connected – and so much our products.”” 5G is one of several next-generation connectivity technologies promising new business capabilities.
To find out more about how 5G will transform transport, logistics and other sectors, download our Next-generation connectivity report today.
Tags: Driverless Vehicles, Automated Vehicles, Next generation connectivity, Next Gen Connectivity, 5G, autonomous transport
