This month, Swedish autonomous truck manufacturer Einride wants to hire its first autonomous truck operator who will drive trucks remotely. The employee must pass a 9-month probationary period.
Einride plans to employ a truck operator at its headquarters in Sweden, who will be responsible for both supervising and, if necessary, taking control of autonomous vehicles. In this role, of course, the Swedish company is seeking a truck driver who wants to become a pioneer in the industry and the first-ever remote truck operator. First, the candidate will need to receive appropriate training including safety protocols, basic instructions for remote driving and the basics of the technology supporting the system. This will be followed by a 9-month testing period to optimise guidelines for future remote operators. In the third quarter of this year, as part of the global expansion, the start-up plans to recruit an employee for the same position also in the United States.
The company believes that in the coming years autonomous driving technology will be implemented on a global scale and the truck transport industry will fundamentally change.
Today our autonomous vehicles are operated by programmers and robotics engineers trained to drive trucks. But the commercial solution must be based on truck drivers who have been trained in remote control,” explains Robert Falck, founder and CEO of Einride.
T-Pod Einride for DB-Schenker
The Einride start-up presented its T-Pod autonomous truck in April 2017. The T-Pod is a seven-metre-long vehicle that consists almost exclusively of a load area. It can hold 15 standard pallets inside and weighs 20 tons including the load. In April 2018, German logistics giant DB Schenker announced that T-Pod would be carrying out deliveries for the company in Sweden as part of its testing. The pilot project was launched at the end of 2018. In May 2019, the Swedish Transport Agency agreed to the testing of the vehicle on public roads by the operator.