16/09/2026
Germany has approved a cab-less electric truck that is now operating without a human driver on public roads in a real commercial delivery operation.
Swedish company Einride and supermarket chain Lidl launched the truck in Edermünde near Kassel, where it transports goods between a Lidl distribution center and a nearby store.
The truck uses Level 4 autonomous driving, meaning it can drive itself without a human taking control within its approved operating conditions. There is no driver or safety operator onboard while it is operating.
Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) granted official permission for the operation. It is the first authorization of this kind in Germany for a cab-less autonomous truck in regular public-road logistics.
The truck is fully electric and can carry 15 standard European pallets. Einride's published specifications for its autonomous vehicle list a length of about 7 meters, a maximum loaded weight of around 20 tonnes, a 200 kWh battery and a range of about 200 kilometers.
Lidl says the truck can make the delivery route up to three times a day and is expected to transport more than 3,000 pallets during the four-month project.
The companies plan to expand the initial operation into a larger multi-stop delivery network and explore additional autonomous truck deployments within Lidl's parent company, Schwarz Group.
Einride says its autonomous trucks use cameras, radar and LiDAR along with redundant safety systems. The company's autonomous platform processes more than 5.2 million data points per second for perception, object detection and navigation.
The companies say autonomous trucks could help address the shortage of commercial drivers and make freight deliveries more efficient.
