Sustainability Problem:  Energy (Carbon Emissions from Diesel trucks)

https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/8/21506125/einride-self-driving-truck-pod-aet-reveal

Technology: Einride, A Swedish startup, created electric autonomous pods that are designed to carry freight.

• The company has two kinds of vehicles: connected, heavy electric trucks driven by humans and its driverless Pods. The PODS come without steering wheels, pedals, windshields, (no driver cabin). The company claims their pod’s vehicles will “reduce transport costs by up to 60 percent and CO2 emissions by 90 percent.” 

• The company hopes to have the Pods on the road delivering freight starting in 2021. The vehicles, known as Autonomous Electric Transport (AET), comes in four different variations. The categories are conditions under which the Pods can drive autonomously. 

• The company is using Nvidia’s self-driving software for their Autonomous driving. The trucks can also be controlled by a remote operator who is located hundreds of miles away using its in-house teleoperation technology. 

• It is expected that the trucking industry will see severe displacement in its workforce due to this technology. In the US, 4.4 million jobs are related to driving; of those, trucking jobs comprise about 2.5 million. A recent study found that automated trucks could reduce the demand for drivers by as much as 50 to 70 percent in the US and Europe by 2030, with 4.4 million of the 6.4 million professional drivers on both continents being displaced.

Stakeholders:

• Freight Companies 
• Retailers
• Brands 
• Consumers
• Employees in the trucking industry. 

Implementation: 

• Explore feasibility of this technology within our current freight system.
• Create awareness for cost savings and reduction of carbon emissions among potential freight customers.
• Test Pod transport with potential customers.