When professional mountain biker Matt Jones jumped between two self-driving trucks, Scania believes it redefined the boundaries of autonomous vehicle technology.

Swedish firm Scania’s autonomous trucks use AI-based technology and completed a challenge that involved two autonomous trucks moving towards each other in perfect sync to create a window of less than a second for a professional mountain biker to jump through the opening between them. It culminated in a world first, as Red Bull athlete Matt Jones (www.redbull.com/gb-en/athlete/matt-jones) successfully jumped between the two self-driving vehicles.

This feat brought together the creativity, engineering excellence and determination of teams from Scania, Red Bull and PlusAI to turn an impossible vision into a reality. It was meticulously planned and executed, with software development, practice sessions and safety checks taking place over several months.

“Transport is a cornerstone of our daily lives, and with that comes enormous responsibility to get goods to the right person or company in the most safe and efficient way” said Peter Hafmar, head of autonomous technology at Scania. “This challenge was a glimpse of what’s possible when breakthrough autonomous technology delivers precision and safety you can count on.”

Scania’s autonomous technology for mining and hub-to-hub logistics aims to improve efficiency and safety, lower operating costs and reduce environmental impact, as well as alleviate the global driver shortage that poses a real problem to many of its customers’ operations.

The company’s autonomous mining trucks are already available to customers, and this is just the beginning. Self-driving technology will soon be moving onto highways, enabling hub-to-hub freight transport. In fact, Scania is already active on European roads with safety drivers, in partnership with the Silicon Valley-based PlusAI (plus.ai). Scania’s trucks and in-house software capabilities, paired with the AI-based technology provided by PlusAI is set to deliver safe, scalable and factory-built autonomous mobility for the road.

Watch the challenge and learn more about how Scania’s trucks enabled it at www.scania.com/autonomous.