IN Brief:
- Voltempo is developing a cab-less autonomous rigid truck concept for zero-emission freight operations.
- The design extends a standard rigid vehicle from 12 metres to 15.6 metres and increases gross vehicle weight capacity from 32 tonnes to 42 tonnes.
- The project connects autonomous freight, electric HGV infrastructure, payload efficiency, and future UK logistics regulation.
Voltempo is developing a cab-less autonomous rigid truck concept that could increase payload capacity, reduce vehicle weight, and change how zero-emission freight vehicles are designed for UK logistics operations.
The vehicle concept forms part of the wider eFreight 2030 ecosystem, which is focused on accelerating electric heavy goods vehicle adoption and supporting charging infrastructure. Instead of converting a conventional cabbed lorry to battery-electric operation, the proposed design removes the driver cab and reworks the vehicle around freight movement.
The concept would extend the length of a standard rigid lorry from 12 metres to 15.6 metres and increase gross vehicle weight capacity from 32 tonnes to 42 tonnes. By removing the cab and rethinking the vehicle body, the project aims to create more usable load space while reducing unnecessary structural weight and improving energy efficiency.
Voltempo founder and corporate development officer Michael Boxwell has set out the payload logic behind the design, with the removal of the cab creating around 15% more space than a standard-length trailer while cutting weight from the vehicle architecture. Depending on configuration and duty cycle, the concept could provide an additional five to seven tonnes of payload.
Berkeley Coachworks is building the prototype body. The design work extends beyond electrification, with the project examining how a freight vehicle can be made more efficient aerodynamically, physically, and operationally when it no longer has to accommodate a driver in the traditional position.
The concept brings together three freight transitions that are usually discussed separately: electrification, autonomy, and payload optimisation. Electric HGVs face persistent challenges around battery weight, range, depot charging, public charging access, dwell time, and vehicle utilisation. A cab-less platform could help offset some of those constraints by increasing load density and reducing non-cargo mass.
Autonomy adds a more difficult set of questions. Controlled sites such as ports and logistics yards are already proving useful test environments for autonomous freight vehicles, with Port of Tyne’s autonomous tractor trials showing how defined operating zones can reduce complexity. Public-road freight involves a much wider set of variables, including mixed traffic, pedestrians, weather, junctions, enforcement, liability, and emergency intervention.
The eFreight 2030 programme is also linked to high-capacity charging infrastructure, making the vehicle concept part of a wider system rather than a standalone truck design. Charging, routing, depot operations, fleet supervision, maintenance, and scheduling would all need to work together if cab-less electric freight vehicles were deployed commercially.
Removing the cab also changes the future role of the driver. In any early deployment, autonomous heavy vehicles are likely to require defined operating domains, remote supervision, safety validation, and clear procedures for exception handling. Labour would not disappear from the system; it would shift towards monitoring, intervention, vehicle preparation, maintenance, and control-room activity.
There are also practical questions around loading. A longer rigid body may offer strong benefits for some freight flows, particularly palletised goods, parcel cages, retail replenishment, and port-to-warehouse movement. Dense cargo, awkward loads, height restrictions, loading bay design, and delivery-site access could all affect how much of the theoretical capacity can be used in daily operations.
The concept remains at development stage, with regulation, safety approval, infrastructure readiness, insurance, and customer acceptance all still to be addressed. Its importance lies in the way it challenges the existing vehicle template. The first wave of electric HGV adoption has largely replaced diesel powertrains within familiar designs; the next wave may alter the shape, capacity, and operating model of the truck itself.
Freight operators will ultimately judge cab-less autonomous vehicles on delivered cost, reliability, safety, and integration with existing networks. If the design can carry more cargo, use less energy, reduce downtime, and operate safely within managed freight corridors, it could change the economics of zero-emission road freight. The engineering challenge is substantial, but the project shows that electric truck development is moving beyond propulsion and into vehicle architecture.