A SEK 975 million (about $98 million) test track opens in Sweden for the trucks of tomorrow

In Södertälje, Sweden, Scania has opened a new proving ground — a private test track where tomorrow's trucks earn their stripes before they meet a real road. The 85-hectare site has 13 kilometres (about 8 miles) of paved roads and 4 kilometres (about 2.5 miles) of gravel, built to test electric trucks, self-driving systems and safety features such as automatic emergency braking. Its braking tracks offer three different surfaces — asphalt, concrete and slippery basalt tiles — so engineers can see how a truck stops when one side grips and the other slides, and a banked oval with gradients of up to 22 percent feels, to the driver, like an endless straight highway. The builders also minded the landscape: using low-carbon asphalt and renewable fuel for construction transport avoided about 30,900 tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent. Instead of cutting a ribbon, Scania opened the site the way it was meant to be used — by sending its vehicles out onto the track.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: infrastructure build