Swedish electric self-driving truck startup Einride recently announced it had successfully completed a cross-border operation of its cabless electric autonomous truck without a human driver. The autonomous border crossing took place at the Ørje border crossing, which is located between Norway, which isn't in the European Union, and Sweden, an EU member, and is a major crossing point.

The Norwegian Customs agency, Tolletaten, supported the initiative to handle the added complexities of an autonomous cross-border shipment. International border crossings are traditionally managed by a human driver. To overcome this, Einride integrated its systems with Norway's digital customs solution (Digitoll) through its partner Q-Free. This allowed the goods to be digitally declared in advance.

In addition to the digital paperwork handoff, Einride showed additional capabilities of its EV autonomous tech by integrating the Einride Driver, the company's virtual driver, into a purpose-built cabless autonomous vehicle. It also demonstrated a Control Tower, the fleet management platform providing intelligence and oversight.

Notably, Einride's vehicle has no traditional cab. The demonstration of both the tech and operations is part of the MODI project, an EU co-funded initiative that seeks to enable the rollout of heavy-duty autonomous transportation.

"We are immensely proud to have completed the world's first cabless, electric, fully autonomous cross-border delivery," said Henrik Green, CTO and general manager for Einride Autonomous Technologies, in a press release. "We are dedicated to continuously extending our capabilities into new applications, showcasing how autonomous technology can enhance transportation safety, efficiency, and sustainability. The MODI project perfectly embodies this commitment, assisting in the realization of EU value-based objectives by thoughtfully balancing safety with innovation."

The joint effort, conducted on behalf of PostNord, included additional participants: Statens Vegvesen, Sintef, Q-Free, Trafikverket and Østfold kommune. PostNord ships nearly 200 million parcels annually across the Nordic region. Interestingly, PostNord is the equivalent of the U.S. Postal Service but jointly owned by both the Swedish and Danish governments.

The successful test follows a recent report by Transport Topics/Bloomberg back in May that the company is considering an IPO in the U.S. According to TechCrunch by way of PitchBook, Einride has raised $654.26 million in funds to date with its last round in 2022 to the tune of $500 million.