Electric and autonomous transport company Einride expands into the UK, which is the latest in a series of European market expansions.
Einride said it wants to focus on the 1.6 billion tons of goods transported by road freight in the UK each year. The first UK implementation will be in partnership with Walkers, a snack food subsidiary of PepsiCo, who will use Einride’s trucks and platform to deliver goods between the cities of Leicester and Coventry. year.
PepsiCo’s initial rollout will be more of a “suck it and see” over a three-year trial period before committing to route expansions.
“With this first deployment, we look forward to better understanding the potential role that electric trucks can play in our transport operations,” Archana Jagannathan, PepsiCo UK’s head of sustainability, said in a statement.
PepsiCo is a major coup as a launch partner, though Einride has made other big commercial deals elsewhere, including Electrolux in Germany and GE Appliances in the US, the latter serving as a pilot partner for Einride’s fully autonomous pods (more on that below).
Einride says it plans to establish a “freight mobility network” over time covering some of the most heavily trafficked freight routes, starting in the Midlands and stretching across many of the major conurbations, including Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham , Bristol and London.
Einride’s planned transport network Image credits: Einride
Pods
Founded in Sweden in 2016, Einride gained attention in the European Mobility Area for its self-driving, cabless truck that can be remotely controlled by human operators when needed.
Einride in action Image credits: Einride
Although these “podscommercially tested in Sweden and the US, regulatory hurdles have meant that Einride has had to expand its scope with human powered electric trucks also as part of a transitional period, supported by her Saga platform that helps its freight and logistics customers manage and optimize their fleet. And this is what PepsiCo will be using as part of its Einride partnership, starting with two connected electric trucks that will be deployed in the Midlands from July.
“As Einride expands its presence and customer list in the UK, it looks forward to finding innovative local partners – both in terms of customers and legislation – who are ready to undertake projects using Einride’s autonomous technology,” a spokesperson said. to businesskinda.com. “Einride plans to explore autonomous operations incrementally, focusing on fenced areas at customer sites, or within an authorized project on public roads with lower complexity, for example between a manufacturing site and a warehouse or distribution center.”
Einride’s PepsiCo (Walkers) Truck Image credits: Einride
Einride had already expanded to the US in 2021, while in recent months it has rolled in to Germany and the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) region, with plans in place to also focus on Norway this year. The latest expansion comes on the heels of one important initiative of the British government designed to decarbonise the country’s freight transport by road, rail and sea launched a new £7 million fund for SMEs making domestic freight cleaner.
Although Einride is not one of the beneficiaries of this Freight Innovation Fund (FIF), the company is fresh off a $500 million fundraiser from a slew of investors, including $300 million in debt financing from Barclays Europe, which Einride has used to strengthen its fleet as it continues to expand its presence in Europe and North America .
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.