Einride and Lidl start Germany’s first cab-less Level 4 truck runs

Einride and Lidl in Germany said a cab-less SAE Level 4 autonomous electric truck is now running daily public-road deliveries between a Lidl warehouse and distribution center and a nearby store under an official Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) permit — the first authorization of its kind in Germany. The companies plan to expand toward a multi-stop “milk run” and discuss further Schwarz Group deployments.

Same-day primary that physical AI and autonomous freight cleared Germany’s strict KBA bar for cab-less Level 4 daily public-road retail logistics — not another pilot press release.

Einride AB (Nasdaq: ENRD), a Stockholm freight-tech company, and Lidl in Germany — a grocery discounter in the Schwarz Group — announced on 15 Sep 2026 the deployment of the first cab-less SAE Level 4 autonomous truck in daily operations on a public road in Germany. That English company press, carried on Nasdaq / GlobeNewswire and datelined Edermünde, Germany and Stockholm, plus Lidl Germany’s same-morning Presseportal note, is the filing event. These are company claims.

SAE Level 4 means high automation: the vehicle can drive itself in defined conditions without a human ready to take over. Cab-less means there is no driver cabin. The companies and Reuters say the truck runs with no human driver or safety operator onboard.

The truck operates under an official permit from Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority — Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, or KBA, the federal office that licenses road vehicles. The companies and Reuters call it the first authorization of its kind granted in Germany. Reuters’ Prathik Jayaprakash wire says the KBA granted the permit after an extensive safety validation process for real-world road conditions, as the companies told it. File “first of its kind in Germany” as the companies’ and Reuters’. Einride’s own about copy says it already runs autonomous deliveries in the United States and Europe.

Route, as the English company press has it: goods move between a Lidl warehouse and distribution center and a Lidl retail store. Lidl’s German Presseportal locates the project in Edermünde near Kassel, in Hesse, and says the truck hauls from the local administrative and goods-distribution center there to a nearby Lidl store. File Edermünde / Kassel as Lidl PR.

Operational details, Lidl Presseportal only: a solo electric truck with 15 Euro-pallet spaces; up to three runs a day; dry-assortment deliveries on this route fully covered; a four-month project that could move more than 3,000 pallets. A Euro-pallet is the standard European store pallet. Dry assortment means shelf goods that do not need a fridge.

After this first route is validated, the companies say they will expand it into a full multi-stop “milk run” — a delivery loop with several stops — and that further deployments across other Schwarz Group divisions are under discussion. Reuters repeats both lines.

Named voices on the company pages: Roozbeh Charli, chief executive of Einride; Thomas Dangelmayer, Head of Operational Logistics at Lidl in Germany; Serhan Yildirim, Head of Schwarz Logistics Solutions; and Christian Hirte, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Transport, quoted in support. Their quotes are color only and stay in Sources.

Einride’s about blurb says its platform integrates AI-powered freight intelligence and proprietary autonomous technology, plus an electric heavy-duty fleet, under a dual Freight-Capacity-as-a-Service and software model.