Bearing and seal manufacturer SKF is testing a self-driving electric truck to transport goods on a public road between its factory and warehouse in Gothenburg, Sweden.

It has partnered with Swedish transport technology company Einride.

Driving driverless vehicles on public roads requires a special permit from the Swedish Transport Agency, which the two companies plan to apply for together.

Autonomous vehicles are not new for SKF, which uses self-driving trucks, also known as automated guided vehicles, or AGVs, inside its factories and warehouses. There are also advanced plans to develop a solution for autonomous loading and unloading of the autonomous truck, which can carry up to 10 t at a time.

The project is an example of initiatives that give SKF new opportunities to create efficient, sustainable and autonomous logistics flows that contribute to its goal of reducing its carbon dioxide emissions from freight transport by 40% over a ten-year period until 2025, which necessitated a review of its entire logistics flow from a carbon dioxide perspective, says SKF Global logistics manager Mattias Axelsson.

"With the partnership with SKF, we now have customers in all our priority customer segments: trade, consumer goods and industrial goods, which we are very proud of. Together with them, we will learn and grow quickly," says Einride commercial manager Jonas Hernlund.