• Einride, a Swedish tech developer for autonomous and electric trucks, has announced plans to bring its autonomous Class 8 trucks dubbed “Pods” to deliver goods in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. The company expects to make the deliveries fully autonomously (i.e., without a safety driver).

• Einride plans to bring the service to around 34 locations in Dallas-Fort Worth by partnering with different merchants. The company will focus on test pilots in the area, following its initial operations in enclosed spaces.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Texas has always been a popular destination for autonomous trucking companies given its geographical location, availability of academic and research institutions, and the Texan government’s encouragement. Other autonomous trucking companies with operations in Texas include Waymo, Daimler, Aurora Innovation, Gatik, TuSimple, Embark Trucks, and Kodiak Robotics. Einride’s operations were mostly centered in Sweden, with only two partnerships in the US announced to date—with GE Appliances and Maersk, to supply its autonomous and electric trucks respectively for use at partnering companies’ locations. Thus, today’s news marks the company’s first attempt at delivering goods on its own in the US.</ul>