California start-up Solo Advanced Vehicle Technologies (Solo AVT) has unveiled its SD1, a long-haul battery-electric Class 8 truck designed specifically for autonomous driving with an expected range in excess of 800-kilometres.
A key feature is SD1 boasts the lowest drag coefficient of its class, together with industry-leading “active aerodynamics”. The exceptional aerodynamics are achieved in part by a complete redesign enabled by “removing the need for an onboard human and incorporating aerospace-level system redundancy”.
Solo AVT, which was founded only last Autumn, says it is “revolutionising the freight transportation industry.
“The debut of our SD1 design is the next step in our journey towards decarbonising the freight industry,” said Graham Doorley, founder and CEO, Solo AVT.
And core to Solo AVT’s design ethos, Dorley maintains, is the convergence of two tech-enabled opportunities: battery-electric transportation at long-haul range and autonomy.
“Autonomous systems today won’t work on existing or retrofit platforms at scale”, says Doorley. “At Solo AVT we’re solving both of these challenges as we develop, design, and engineer the SD1 to achieve long-haul range with an autonomous truck from day one. We look forward to being the step change this massive industry needs.”
