Removing the weakest link in electrified, autonomous transport: humans
Thanks to our new global tariff war, the wild world of importing and exporting has been thrust into the forefront. There’s a lot of logistics involved in keeping your local Walmart stocked and your Amazon Prime deliveries happening, and you might be surprised at how much of that world has already been automated.
While cars from autonomy providers like Waymo are still extremely rare in most stretches of the open road, the process of loading and unloading cargo has become almost entirely automated at some major ports around the world. Likewise, there’s an increasing shift to electrify the various vehicles involved along the way, eliminating a significant source of global emissions.
But there’s been one sticking point in this automated, electrified logistical dream: plugging in. The humble act of charging still happens via human hands, but that’s changing. At a testing facility in Sweden, a company called Rocsys has demonstrated an automated charger that works with self-driving electric trucks from Einride in a hands-free and emissions-free partnership that could save time, money, and even lives.
