Autonomous technologies could revolutionize the trucking industry and that extends all the way to logging. It may have never crossed your mind before, but the wooden products you use everyday could eventually be transported by driverless truck running on electricity.
During the Goodwood Festival of Speed, technology startup Einride unveiled its concept of an autonomous, all-electric logging truck dubbed the T-log. The company believes it could play an important part in an “enormous market for battery-powered AVs.”
As you’ll notice from these press renderings, the Einride T-log doesn’t feature a cabin for the driver or passenger. Instead, it consists of a small front section in place of a traditional cab. The company claims that the T-log uses Nvidia’s Drive self-driving platform and can achieve level 4 self-driving. Consequently, it can be remote-controlled by a human operator located hundreds of miles away.
As the T-log doesn’t have a cabin, the vehicle can make do without air conditioning, heating and other create comforts, cutting down on costs and energy consumption.
Controlling the vehicle are a plethora of cameras, lidars, and radars that help provide a 360-degree view of the world. Details about the T-log’s powertrain haven’t been announced but it will be able to haul more logs than a diesel truck of the same size thanks to the immense torque provided by electric motors and the small cabin.
“Remove the cabin and replace the driver with an operator who can monitor and remote-control several vehicles at once and costs can be reduced significantly,” Einride said in a press release about the truck.
“In addition, operating a vehicle from a distance allows for a much better working environment, as has already been demonstrated in industries like mining.”
The company has yet to say if and when it will put the T-Log into production.
https://youtu.be/m5HGUY3xxf8