Ericsson Automotors and 33 companies tested in 5 g

Today, as of Wednesday, a new type of vehicle has started to appear in the DB Schenkers warehouse in Jönköping. The T-pod is a truckless electric truck, developed by the Gothic Einride Company, founded in 2016. The truck is 7 meters tall, can accommodate 15 pallets from the EU and can travel a distance of 20 miles with a charge.

According to Einride, the Jönköping trial is the first commercial use of self-propelled trucks in the world. The 5G technology of Ericsson and Telia makes the attempt possible. Ericsson contributes with 5g modems placed in the trucks and partly with a new type of software allowing the 5g technology to run on an existing 4g network. Telia's mission is to ensure the connection between the truck and the network.

– Electric road transport will not be done without a strong business case, and that is what creates the Einride solution. The installation at Schenker is proof that the solution works. It's a decisive, but decisive first step in the sustainable transformation of the whole transport sector – not only in Sweden, but around the world, writes Robert Falck, CEO and founder of Einride, in an email to Ny Teknik.

Trucks can be remotely controlled by people

Although the Einride truck is fully self propelled, the technology will not be fully tested in Jönköping. Rather, it is a semi-autonomous solution where vehicles can be remotely controlled by a human operator when needed.

In addition, during the first stage, the experiment is geographically limited to a small, well-defined part of DB Schenker's construction site. The trucks will be driven 300 meters between a warehouse and a terminal, and therefore without traffic on public roads. This requires the permission of the transport agency, which Einride is still waiting for.

– We expect to get permission this fall. When this is clear, the attempt at Jönköping will be extended to public roads, "said Adam Nelvin, Einride's press officer.

The application was signed by Einride on September 21st. The hope was to start testing a little more than a month later, October 25, but the Transportation Agency has not yet approved the application.

"We are waiting for an extra Einride, but do not comment on the matter in other respects," said Monica Näslund, press secretary of the transport administration in Ny Teknik.

For Ericsson, we would like to point out that the 5 g technology currently being tested in Jönköping is an essential basis for the automotive transport of the future.

Ericsson: first step towards an autonomous transport system

The telecom company's radio equipment has been ready for 5g since 2015 and can be updated with the help of software, which is one of the reasons why Ericsson has won several contracts with 5g recently.

– This is a first step towards a totally autonomous transport system. This type of commercial phase will eventually replace much of the current driving costs with radio communications and IP technology. Today, the range of the DB Schenkers industrial area is managed by several hand-operated trucks. From the point of view of the environment and sustainability, all project participants would make huge gains if these vehicles could be replaced by self-propelled trucks, said Claes Herlitz, head of the automotive and automotive sectors. transport at Ericsson.

The experiment involves introducing electric vehicles into the transport system. One of the difficulties is that trucks sometimes have to pay loading fees, which can have a negative impact on logistics flows. One of the great advantages of Einride self-propelled vehicles is that they constantly collect data on the routes. This allows you to analyze the supply chain to find the times when it is optimal with the load.

Another much larger technical challenge is the performance constraints in the current 4G network.

"We have worked with Telia to optimize the 4g connection during this journey, but we are at the limit of what 4g technology is capable of doing.The sensors and joints available on the T-pod can handle a lot of things, but something unpredictable while driving – as if we were walking a step forward in front of the vehicle – the truck would stop and we can then remotely control it to get over the obstacle. 39, a larger number of autonomous vehicles will require remote control at the same time, 5g becomes absolutely crucial, because the 5g performance is totally different when it comes to transferring large amounts of information, improving Video transfer rate and the need to reduce delays, "said Claes Herlitz.

Mats Lundbäck, Head of Technology at Telia Sweden, points out that the project is an important step towards creating a powerful ecosystem to take advantage of the benefits of 5g technology.

"At the moment, we need to know what the network can really handle, and in collaboration with Ericsson and Einride, we need to understand each other's needs so that they can be sure to continue building their systems further. The question that arises is how much data must be transmitted when driving with autonomous vehicles.