Einride and Lidl (part of Schwarz Group) began operating a cab-less SAE Level 4 autonomous truck on a public road in Germany on September 15, 2026. The vehicle, which carries no driver or safety operator, runs daily between a Lidl warehouse/distribution centre and a Lidl store, under a permit issued by Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) — reportedly the first such approval granted in the country.
The companies note that the permit followed an extensive safety validation process with the KBA, aimed at confirming the technology's reliability under real-world road conditions, and point to Germany's road safety regulations as among the strictest globally. Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said the company already runs autonomous freight operations at volume on fixed schedules in the US and Europe, and framed the German clearance as a basis for further scaling given the rigor of the approval process.
Einride and Lidl plan to extend the current single route into a multistop model, with additional deployments across the wider Schwarz Group network under discussion. The project is presented as part of a broader push to mitigate driver shortages and improve supply chain resilience, and was delivered in collaboration with Schwarz Corporate Solutions, Schwarz Digits and Lidl Germany. Lidl's Thomas Dangelmayer described the effort as a step-by-step, real-world test of how autonomous technology can be integrated into site logistics.
Source: ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International — read the original article