Wednesday we said our goodbyes to Skellefteå and headed for Stockholm. We landed in Stockholm, dropped off our luggage at our hotel, and walked straight over to Saab Headquarters where we met Lars, Director Head of Business Area Aeronautics and Member of Saab Group Management.
Lars introduced us to the structure and organization of the business as well as the challenges that arise in their industry, in all of their business areas. As someone who has worked in multiple parts of Saab’s business in different cities, it was great to hear about his career spanning many years with this company. At our visit, Lars introduced us to Saab and their different business areas and products. He also gave us insight into the company operations and global business relations.
A few days later we found ourselves at Einride learning about their plan for autonomous driving. First, Christopher, the Senior Vice President of Research and Public Affairs, gave us background on their industry and introduced us to the concept of autonomous vehicles.
Some disruptions within the transportation industry include digitalization, electric battery propulsion, and autonomous driving features, all which lead Einride to believe the future of transportation is electric, autonomous, and digital. However, within the trucking industry, less than 1% of trucks sold in Europe in the year 2022 were electric. Einride works to improve the trucking industry by helping plan electric logistics and with their app for electrification of transportation logistics. Their autonomous trucks include human led autonomy, so humans are able to take over if needed. Einride believes autonomous trucking is the solution to safety and efficiency within the industry. Also, it helps social sustainability as there is a shortage of truck drivers, and the average age of truck drivers is 50 years old.
We enjoyed how interactive this visit was, because we got to both learn about Einride and also split up into groups to contribute our ideas and insights on how to make the public perception of autonomous cars more positive in the U.S. Some ideas our group discussed included having representatives from the company attend trade shows to show people the cars in person and have that human connection element so people are more reassured that these vehicles are safe. We felt that it tends to be easier to connect with a product and learn more about it through another person than just reading about it online.
With Stockholm having a really strong technology and science space, we’re excited to see how these companies can continue to impact the world!
