Einride, the Swedish autonomous trucking startup

Einride

Einride, the Swedish startup known for its unusual-looking electric and autonomous cases that are intended to carry cargo, has raised $110 million to help reserve its expansion in Europe and into the United States.

The Series B round, which far surpasses its past raises of $10 million out of 2020 and $25 million of every 2019, included new financial backers Temasek, Soros Fund Management LLC, Northzone and Maersk Growth. The company said Thursday that current financial backers EQT Ventures, Plum Alley, Norrsken VC, Ericsson and NordicNinja VC also participated in the round.

The company has raised a total of $150 million to date. The company didn’t share its post-cash valuation.

Established in 2016 the company has two sorts of vehicles: associated, electric heavy trucks driven by humans and its driverless Pods.

The electric trucks do a lot of the cargo carrying turn out today for clients like Swedish food maker Oatly, Coca-Cola, Lidl and Electrolux. The company’s pitch is that its electric trucks lessen emanations for its clients by 94% compared to driving with diesel. Einride has also built up a digital platform for carriers that handles planning, booking and steering as well as solicitations and charging.

Einride

The company is perhaps most popular for its Einride Pod — when called the T-Pod — a self-driving truck that doesn’t have a cab and can be controlled distantly. The original vehicle has been tried on open roads in Sweden and even carried cargo in an experimental run program for Oatly. In October, the uncovered a line of cutting edge unit cargo carrying vehicles that relying upon its degree of autonomy will start transportation to clients as early as this year.

Einride will utilize this significant infusion of capital to satisfy current client contracts, twofold its 100-man labor force before the year’s over and expand in Europe and into the United States, according to CEO Robert Falck.

Einride will have operations ready for action in the U.S. prior to the furthest limit of the year and are hoping to set up a headquarters in Austin, Texas, and additional workplaces in New York and Silicon Valley, Falck said in an email. Global agreements are in place with brands like Oatly, which incorporates U.S. operations, with additional to be announced soon, he added.

Einride

As Einride keeps on scaling its human-controlled electric shipping operation, it is also dealing with the drawn out goal of carrying out commercial driverless Pods. Einride has said its new Pods will be available with contrasting degrees of autonomy and functionality based on its internal Autonomous Electric Transport (AET) classification framework, which ranges from levels 1 to 5.

Its AET 1 Pod is for shut facilities with foreordained courses that are most appropriate for completely autonomous operation. The constraints expand from that point with Pods at AET 2 intended for shut facility operation with an added capability to traverse public roads over brief distances between destinations. Einride has said that these initial two degree of Pods will start transportation to clients starting in 2021.

Level 3 allows for operation on backroads and less bustling main roads between facilities, at a maximum operating rate of 28 mph. The Pod will operate autonomously at level 4, on freeways and other major roads at up to 52 mph. Einride has said that Levels 3 and 4 will transport to clients in 2022 and 2023.