Sweden’s Einride AB, a pioneer in autonomous and electric freight transport, said Wednesday it has raised $100 million to expand deployment of its smart trucks.

Investors in the round included EQT Ventures and IonQ Inc., a leading quantum computing company, alongside a mix of existing and new investors. Founded in 2016, Einride is developing and operating autonomous vehicles to change the freight ecosystem with the largest fleet of heavy-duty electric trucks.

The company provides freight and logistics companies with cutting-edge autonomous technology alongside Saga, its proprietary planning and optimization platform. Saga allows companies to lower costs and emissions with the use of fewer trucks, allowing customers to deploy what they need, where they need it, using advanced planning algorithms.

The platform processes vast amounts of data, including transportation demand, driver details and vehicle charging information. Understanding charging in particular can help companies reduce costs. Einride said its platform not only guides firms in planning what kind of charging infrastructure to employ, but also assists drivers in charging at the right time and at the best price, with the aim of extending vehicle battery life.

“This funding allows us to grow with our customer base and accelerate the deployment of our autonomous freight technology,” said Chief Executive Roozbeh Charli. “It’s a strong signal of confidence in both our team and our unique position in the market.”

The $100 million fund includes an investment made earlier this year by IonQ as part of a partnership to develop quantum applications to address large-scale logistics problems.

As Einride scales its operations worldwide, the challenges of routing and fleet management will grow exponentially. Quantum computing is emerging as a proven technology for solving complex efficiency problems, especially those posed by logistics and routing. With IonQ’s technology, Einride can optimize route plans within minutes, a task that would take hours or days on traditional computers.

“Einride shares our belief that quantum computing will fundamentally reshape and improve how large industries such as transportation and logistics operate,” said IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi.

The freight company stated that the raise comes after a year of sustained growth, with net sales more than doubling in 2024. Einride has likewise expanded into Austria and the United Arab Emirates, with a growing number of global shippers across Europe and North America.

Einride’s customers include large-scale shipping and product companies such as A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, PepsiCo Inc., Coca-Cola Europacific Partners plc, GE Appliances and Mars Inc.

Einride said the cash infusion will provide what it needs to expand deployment of its autonomous freight solutions and deepen technology development.

Image: Einride