Cab-less trucking company Einride and German food retailer Lidl – a company of Schwarz Group –- today announced the deployment of the first cab-less SAE Level 4 autonomous truck in daily operations on a public road in Germany.
An SAE Level 4 autonomous truck can drive itself without human intervention within defined operating conditions, such as specific routes, roads, or weather conditions. Unlike lower levels of automation, it does not require a driver to take over if something goes wrong; within its approved operating domain, the automated system is responsible for the driving task.
The cab-less truck, with no driver or safety operator on board, is now transporting goods between a Lidl warehouse and distribution centre and a Lidl store, operating under an official permit from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), the first of its kind granted in Germany.
Germany, the world’s third-largest economy and the largest road transport market in Europe, has some of the world's most stringent road safety regulations.
The permit reflects an extensive safety validation process conducted with the KBA, confirming that the technology can operate reliably and safely under real-world conditions on public roads.
For Einride and Lidl, it is also a step towards bringing forward-looking technology, once confined to pilots and niche use cases, into the mass market and everyday retail.
“Einride is already running real autonomous deliveries, with real volumes on real schedules with customers in the US and Europe. Germany is one of Einride’s key markets, and we’re excited to now bring this technology to public roads in Europe's largest road transport market, and to prove its value together with Lidl and the broader ecosystem of Schwarz Group,” said Roozbeh Charli, Chief Executive Officer at Einride.
“Germany's approval process is among the toughest in the world, and obtaining clearance there gives us a foundation to scale with confidence.”
The initiative is part of a broader effort to address driver shortages, secure continuity in the flow of goods, and strengthen supply chain resiliency across Lidl's network.
The truck connects a Lidl warehouse and distribution centre directly to a Lidl store. Einride and Lidl in Germany will continue to expand the route toward a full multi-stop milkrun model, and further deployments with the companies of Schwarz Group are currently being discussed.
"Intelligence creates efficiency, and that is the backbone for permanently reliable product availability," says Thomas Dangelmayer, Head of Operational Logistics at Lidl in Germany.
"We ensure that the products for our customers are always at the right place, at the right time, and in the right quality.
With this innovative project, we are testing a technological milestone step by step and safely in real-world operations to examine how future-proof solutions can be optimally integrated into our site logistics."
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