Autonomous trucking company Einride announced it is now running full-time autonomous trucking operations with GE Appliances in Tennessee.
The company is hauling finished goods between GE Appliances’ manufacturing facility and a warehouse in Selmer, Tenn., seven times a day. The model has been dubbed freight capacity as a service, or FaaS.
(Photo: Einride)
Einride first piloted its technology within a gated environment with GE Appliances, followed by a public road pilot in Selmer last year.
“We are very proud to partner with GE Appliances and be able to lead the industry in providing autonomous technology and deploying it in the strongest commercial use case today,” said Henrik Green, general manager, autonomous technologies at Einride. “We look forward to continuing this work to establish autonomous’ key role in transportation, both with GEA and other partners across markets.”
The vehicles use TaskWatch AI cameras that trigger a control board to raise and lower dock doors and dock plates, and lock the vehicle into place before notifying a Slip robot the truck is ready to be loaded. The Slip robot then autonomously loads or unloads the vehicle, reducing loading times by 80%, Einride reports.
A remote operator hired by Einride is on-site to monitor the vehicle.
“Our partnership with Einride in Selmer reflects our evolved approach to robotics and automation technology,” said Harry Chase, senior director of central materials at GE Appliances. “We are moving from implementing one-off solutions addressing various challenges to creating interoperability among systems that can build consistency and streamline processes in our factories and throughout our supply chain. This implementation in Selmer is helping us reduce emissions, allowing our employees to focus on high-value tasks, reducing traffic in congested areas to create a safer work environment, and eliminating some of the most challenging ergonomic tasks like climbing on and off a forklift and hooking and unhooking trailers. We believe robotics and automation technology should work with and for people to improve their jobs.”
