Lidl starts German store deliveries with a cab-less autonomous truck

Lidl has begun operational use of a cab-less autonomous electric truck for regular store deliveries in Germany. Supplied by Swedish freight technology company Einride, the vehicle runs on a defined route between Lidl’s Edermünde distribution centre and a nearby store under a Level 4 permit from Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).

The vehicle operates without a driver or safety operator on board. Lidl and Einride describe the permit as Germany’s first for a cab-less Level 4 truck used in daily logistics. That claim is attributed to the companies and does not imply unrestricted autonomous operation on any road.

Daily route and project capacity

The truck can carry 15 Euro pallets and make up to three trips per day. During the four-month project, Lidl says it will handle all dry-goods deliveries on the designated route, giving the vehicle the capacity to move more than 3,000 pallets over the period.

Lidl is using the project to assess how autonomous transport can fit into its existing logistics operation. It has not disclosed cost savings, delivery-time changes, vehicle utilisation, or productivity gains, and it has not announced a broader rollout.

Level 4 under Germany’s legal framework

At SAE Level 4, the automated driving system can perform the driving task without requiring a person to take control while it remains within its designed operating conditions. This differs from Level 5 automation across all conditions. Germany’s autonomous-driving framework allows Level 4 vehicles on public roads inside approved geographic operating areas.

No driver on board does not mean there is no human oversight. A technical supervisor can deactivate the vehicle or approve certain manoeuvres when required. The truck must also enter a minimal-risk state when it reaches a system limit, stopping at the safest available location and activating its hazard lights.

Einride says its driving stack combines machine-learning navigation with an independent deterministic safety checker and a redundant sensor suite of lidar, radar, and cameras. Parts of the company’s broader autonomous system have undergone external review in Sweden, although those reviews were not specific to the Lidl deployment.

A possible move to multi-stop routes

If the current route is validated successfully, Lidl plans to test a multi-stop “milkrun” model at another location. Such a route combines several collection or delivery points into one scheduled run. Despite Lidl’s network of more than 3,250 stores and 39 administrative and distribution centres in Germany, no network-wide deployment has been announced.

The project also comes amid Europe’s truck-driver shortage. The International Road Transport Union estimated that roughly 502,000 truck-driving positions were unfilled across the European markets it surveyed in 2025. Whether autonomous trucks can materially address that shortage will depend on operating results, cost, safety, and the ability to scale beyond tightly defined routes.