Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Swedish driverless truck start-up Einride is talking to banks about a US stock market listing later this year, which could value the company at more than $5bn.The Swedish group, whose main shareholders include private equity firm EQT and Capital Group of the US, is looking at listing as early as this autumn. It is also seeking to raise at least $200mn in a pre-IPO fundraising round to capitalise on the strong interest in autonomous and AI technology, people familiar with the company said.“Autonomous trucking is very hot right now. There’s a strong interest in AI-driven industries. Several of their peers are trading at lucrative valuations,” said one person with knowledge of the listing.Much of the popular focus for self-driving technology has centred on robotaxis, but heavy-duty trucks have emerged as another big battleground between rival start-ups.The $4.6tn global market for road freight is seen as ripe for disruption amid a driver shortage, the rising cost of transport and the increasing volume of online shopping parcels.Founded in Sweden in 2016 by husband and wife duo Robert Falck and Linnéa Kornehed Falck, Einride’s striking-looking autonomous and electric trucks first started working commercially in 2018. A year later, it became the first group to deploy a fully autonomous truck on a public road.Einride, which had revenues of $43mn last year and an order book of about $830mn, is the latest European start-up to eye a US stock market listing, following in the footsteps of domestic counterparts, such as Spotify and Klarna.Its fundraising is likely to value Einride at up to $3bn, up from its previous valuation of $1.1bn. Bankers are pitching an IPO valuation of more than $5bn based on demand for driverless trucks and autonomous technology.Einride is also set to announce this week that it has started operations in the UAE on what is perhaps the largest autonomous truck project in the world. The deal, first announced in 2023, will involve 200 autonomous trucks as well as 100 manual vehicles as part of a proposed freight network of 550km in the Arabian country.Consultancy McKinsey estimates that the autonomous heavy-duty trucking market will generate revenue of $616bn in 2035, of which $327bn would come from China, $178bn from the US and $112bn from Europe. Einride’s biggest market is the US with many of its customers and shareholders based there.Aurora Innovation, a US start-up with a valuation of $11bn and a partner of Volvo, Uber and FedEx, announced plans in April to commercially deploy up to 10 driverless trucks hauling freight between Dallas and Houston.Einride declined to comment.
