A Level 5 autonomous electric truck has a quirky trailer design characterized by single rear wheels that provide better grip on the road at high speeds. Sure, this idea has some flaws, but I like the overall visual appeal.
Electric semi-trucks developed by Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Daimler, Nikola Motors, Ford, and Tesla are paving the way for the future of freight trucking around the world. Some of them have dreams of autonomous movement, and eventually, we see half trucks like this passing us on the freeway. This concept design by Roman Tolchenko, along with industrial designer Dmitry Voronezhtsev, has joined the competition to create fully autonomous half-trucks.
The electric tractor, dubbed the ATLANTIS, will have Level 5 autonomy without a driver’s box or human intervention. This can be very useful in eliminating human intervention from the equation and dragging time-sensitive cargo to pre-defined locations. The electric truck has a very exterior design, which is not what we have seen so far. Even the Volvo Vera, Tesla Semi, or Ford F-Vision are mediocre in comparison. Related to this ultra-futuristic design is the conceptual Polestar 10-wheeler modular trailer or Tesla Autonomous E-Rig semi-concept design.
The reason is, this fully autonomous electric half has a large rig with even larger wheels on the back. They are just as big as the trailer. On the road, these wheels move independently to pull the tractor forward, including a set of wheels that move independently to handle practical turns and tight spaces. The trailer’s ride height is not enough to tread rough terrain, and a single set of large wheels is another challenge to flexibility on bank roads or replacing it with another set of wheels if existing ones are rough. This is a clear sign that Atlantis is just as imaginative for freeways as the road trains in Australia!