The Port of Felixstowe has confirmed an order for a third batch of Westwell fully electric autonomous vehicles, increasing its self-driving truck fleet to 100.
These new trucks incorporate enhanced sensor and perception technology, including 128-line LiDAR and advanced camera systems, providing a detailed understanding of the operating environment and supporting safe, accurate and reliable operation in a busy mixed-traffic terminal environment.
Part of the investment includes a second automated battery swapping station.
The port’s existing station enables autonomous trucks to exchange depleted batteries for fully charged units in five to six minutes, helping to maximise fleet availability and minimise operational disruption.
Supporting this capability is the port’s private 5G network, one of the biggest industrial private 5G deployments in the UK.
This network provides fast, secure and reliable communications, enabling real-time connectivity between autonomous trucks, control systems and terminal infrastructure, ensuring safe, efficient and responsive operations across both autonomous and conventional equipment.
Clemence Cheng, Executive Director of Hutchison Ports and Port of Felixstowe CEO, said, “Expanding our autonomous truck fleet to 100 vehicles demonstrates our confidence in the technology and in the benefits it is already bringing to our customers, colleagues and operations.
“Felixstowe has led the way in deploying autonomous trucks safely at scale in a live port environment, and this latest order reinforces our commitment to innovation, operational resilience and our target of achieving Net-Zero for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2035.”
Kenny Tan, Founder and Chairman of Westwell, said, “We are proud to support Hutchison Ports Port of Felixstowe as it continues to deploy autonomous truck technology at scale.”
