Ducktrain: Road testing with semi-autonomous platooning starts

The Aachen start-up Ducktrain addresses logistics on the so-called last mile with its semi-autonomous train of carriages "Ducktrain". In a press release dated January 11, the company announced its recently completed seed round, from which two new institutional investors stood out – EIT InnoEnergy and Wi Venture. According to the company, they now belong to the investor network alongside existing investors from the pre-seed round, Plug and Play Techcenter, 5P Capital, and RWTH Aachen professor and StreetScooter founder Achim Kampker.

In addition, Ducktrain announced that it aims to start road testing. The first test drives on public roads are planned for the spring of 2021, according to the company. They also intend to prove themselves with initial customers, such as the Mainz-based food delivery service Frischepost RheinMain.

As train of ducks to the last mile

According to the manufacturer, a Ducktrain consists of up to five light electric vehicles that are coupled together and transport the loading volume of a conventional van into cities. In the delivery area, the Ducktrain separates on the last ten to 500 meters, and individual Ducks bring the packages to the front door. The Ducktrain steers and drives autonomously by automatically following the delivery person, who is either on foot or on a bicycle, according to the company.