EU-funded researchers are accelerating the roll-out of autonomous heavy vehicles on public roads, positioning self-driving trucks as a practical answer to labour shortages and sustainability goals in European logistics. The International Road Transport Union (IRU) warns that 425,000 truck driver posts are already unfilled across Europe, a gap that automation could help bridge.
Regulatory Momentum Is Building
Germany blazed the trail in 2022 when its Act on Autonomous Driving allowed Level 4 trucks to operate regular hub-to-hub services without a human driver in the cab within predefined operational areas. At pan-European level, the United Nations-administered update to UNECE Regulation 157 now permits Automated Lane-Keeping Systems (ALKS) to operate heavy vehicles at up to 130 km/h on motorways – more than doubling the previous 60 km/h ceiling and making full-speed cross-border highway use technically legal. Complementing these national and UN rules, the European Commission’s 2025 Industrial Action Plan pledges at least three large-scale cross-border automated-driving corridors and harmonised approval procedures for testing and series production by 2026, explicitly mentioning freight hub-to-hub use cases.
Corridors and Pilots Move from Maps to Asphalt
Real-world trials are already validating the new rule-set. In 2022, 5G-MOBIX staged the first public 5G-enabled autonomous-driving demonstration to cross an EU border, sending connected trucks over the Tui–Valença bridge between Spain and Portugal with seamless handover between national mobile networks. Further north, Einride’s MODI consortium will send a cab-less electric truck along the E6 “Nordic Link” between Sweden and Norway later this year, marking the world’s first autonomous heavy-vehicle border crossing. Inside Germany, IVECO, Plus, and 3PL giant DSV initiated a commercial pilot in early 2024, operating a PlusDrive-equipped heavy truck on daily retail distribution routes – proof that autonomous technology is maturing rapidly enough for dense freight lanes.
Technology Readiness Reaches Daily Operations
December 2024 marked another milestone when Einride launched Europe’s first daily, fully driverless freight service, transporting e-commerce goods between Apotea’s Swedish warehouses under a public road permit. Such live services demonstrate Level 4 availability today, not in the distant future, and provide fleet managers with real cost and uptime data to benchmark against conventional rigs.
A Digital Backbone for Seamless Borders
Connectivity is the enabler. The EU aims to blanket all major transport arteries with uninterrupted 5G by 2025, a target backed by Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funds that prioritize cross-border freight corridors, such as the Bologna-Munich route. These high-bandwidth links handle the massive sensor data flows and ultra-low latency remote-operator channels that Level-4 trucks require at border posts and roaming zones.
What Logistics Leaders Should Track Next
- Permitting windows for cross-border pilots will widen quickly once the EU’s harmonised approval scheme takes effect in 2026 – plan routes now to secure early slots.
- Driver-in-the-loop hybrids such as PlusDrive offer a bridge strategy, delivering fuel savings and safety benefits without waiting for full driverless certification.
- Labour economics favour early adopters; autonomous fleets directly offset the 425,000-driver shortfall and can redeploy staff into higher-skill remote-operator roles.
- Data infrastructure should be budgeted alongside tractors and trailers – edge servers, 5G contracts, and cybersecurity compliance will sit on the same critical path as vehicle procurement.
For forward-thinking carriers, the regulatory, technical, and commercial pieces are finally aligning. Europe’s next competitive advantage could well be a convoy of self-driving trucks gliding across borders without ever touching a clutch pedal.