When crossing a border, truck drivers have to deal with various national regulations, digital customs clearance and legal liability. But who takes over that job when the vehicle is driverless?

By Ida Rambæk - Published 04.11.2025

SINTEF was responsible when this truck made its way from Norway to Sweden, without any human behind the wheel. The experiment became an important milestone for automated freight transport on public roads.

Today, drivers carry the responsibility for the goods being transported across the border. They are also the ones who must be physically present and talk to customs if there is an issue or the vehicle is pulled over for a check. But how can this be resolved with a vehicle that isn’t transporting any people?

Tested both red and green customs declarations

The goal of the border crossing at the Ørje customs station was to test how autonomous vehicles handle these challenges.

The truck drove across the border twice. First it used a green customs declaration, driving straight through customs. The second time, the truck had to use a red customs declaration, requiring it to stop for further inspection.

Digital preparation

The Nordic postal service PostNord had pre-declared the goods. When the vehicle crossed the border, the license plate was automatically registered and reported to the Norwegian Customs Agency Digitoll system. Digitoll in turn sent a digital message to the vehicle directing it either to continue across the border or to stop for inspection.

“Both parts worked flawlessly,” says Petter Arnesen at SINTEF.

Extensive European collaboration

The demo is part of the EU MODI project, which involves eight countries in Europe that are investigating what is needed to implement autonomous freight transport on the roads.

Solving the logistics of implementing automated transport systems is complicated, with both technological and regulatory challenges.

“The technology needs to be safe and reliable, including when the autonomous vehicle is sharing the road with regular traffic. And good information flow between vehicles, authorities and infrastructure is critical,” says Arnesen, who led the demo at Ørje customs station.

He adds that there is still work to be done on both the technical and regulatory sides, and that working in parallel with technology and regulations is crucial.

“SINTEF facilitates collaboration between business, government agencies and research. This is an absolutely necessary component for developing automated solutions like this.”

About the MODI project

The border crossing was a collaboration between Swedish and Norwegian partners, including ITS Norway, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, SINTEF, Q-Free, Einride, the Norwegian Transport Administration, the Norwegian Customs Administration, PostNord, the Norwegian Mapping Authority and Østfold County Municipality.

Here you can find out more about the MODI project (in Norwegian).