Einride and Lidl have put Germany’s first cab-less SAE Level 4 autonomous truck into regular public-road service, following approval from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) that allows the driverless vehicle to transport goods between a Lidl distribution centre and store.

The electric truck operates without a driver or safety operator on board under the first permit of its kind issued by the KBA. Einride and Lidl said the authorisation followed an extensive safety validation process covering real-world road conditions.

Einride chief executive Roozbeh Charli said the deployment marked the company’s move into public-road operations in Germany, which it identified as a key market. “Germany's approval process is among the toughest in the world, and obtaining clearance there gives us a foundation to scale with confidence,” he said.

The companies said the initial route links a Lidl warehouse and distribution centre with a store and will be expanded towards a multi-stop “milk run” delivery model. Further deployments across other companies within Lidl parent Schwarz Group are under discussion.

Lidl head of operational logistics in Germany Thomas Dangelmayer said the project was intended to test how autonomous technology could be integrated into logistics operations. “With this innovative project, we are testing a technological milestone step by step and safely in real-world operations to examine how future-proof solutions can be optimally integrated into our site logistics,” he said.

The truck currently makes one shift a day, five days a week, carrying about 45 pallets per shift, although the precise length of the initial route was not disclosed by the companies. The publication said the vehicle is remotely monitored by a human operator, who does not drive it but can perform low-speed manoeuvres of up to 6 kilometres per hour for edge cases and docking.

The deployment is intended to address commercial driver shortages and improve the reliability of goods moving between distribution facilities and shops, according to Einride and Lidl. The companies did not disclose the commercial terms of the deployment.

Germany’s transport ministry said the project demonstrated the country’s efforts to support advanced mobility technologies. Parliamentary state secretary Christian Hirte said: “Autonomous and zero-emission driving has moved from a future vision to a reality on our roads.”

The deployment follows a wider expansion of the Einride-Lidl relationship in Sweden, where the companies said in August that annual electric freight volumes would increase from 474,000 to 832,000 kilometres. That partnership began in Stockholm in 2020 and is being extended to longer-haul operations across several central and southern Swedish regions.

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