Plus, together with the TRATON GROUP brands Scania, MAN, and International today marked the successful completion of their initial phase of collaboration to bring driverless trucks to the world. The milestone was achieved by the release of the Beta 5.0 version of Plus’s Level 4 AI-based autonomous driving software, SuperDrive™, which is now operational in TRATON autonomous trucks in Europe and the U.S.
The companies see this as a key move to their next phase of commercializing autonomous trucks.
This comes after months of public road testing on both continents. The companies have also mapped hub-to-hub routes for phased commercial deployment in Texas.
“Deploying a global product requires seamless integration across people and technology. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made in our Level 4 autonomous trucking program with Plus, and excited to move to the next phase of our collaboration, which will include continued technology development in addition to fleet trials in Texas in the coming months,” said Peter Hafmar, Vice President and Head of Autonomous Solutions at Scania, leading the coordination of Autonomous Solutions for the TRATON GROUP.
The companies said that this achievement highlights the power of international collaboration. Teams in Sweden, Germany, and the U.S. worked in close partnership to ensure seamless deployment of the autonomous driving software. This included establishing a well-defined process for software release and testing, which now features a structured cadence: offline testing, closed-course evaluations, and extensive public road testing in both Europe and the U.S.
With Texas being a strategic transportation hub in the U.S. and home to a number of major trucking routes, International and Plus plan to use it as the start of their autonomous hub-to-hub transport operations in the U.S. and expand the route to other states and eventually cover the U.S.
Traton’s International subsidiary is one of the four major truck manufacturers selling in North America. The others are Daimler Trucks NA (Freightliner), PACCAR (Kenworth, Peterbilt), and Volvo Trucks (Volvo, Mack). International’s market share in the U.S. is approximately 14%.
Shawn Kerrigan, COO and Co-founder at Plus, said: “Today’s milestone exemplifies Plus’s ability to quickly deliver a safe and scalable AI-centric autonomous driving system that can already operate on two continents for the TRATON GROUP. The next phase of fleet pilots will help fleets gain a practical understanding of how to integrate our autonomous trucks into their operations, and the safety and efficiency benefits these trucks bring.”
The companies said the software was meticulously developed with global deployment in mind, necessitating a high level of coordination between the European and American teams across multiple brands and locations. The approach included four key factors.
1. A Defined Testing Process: Implementing a regular and thorough testing regimen to ensure reliability and performance.
2. Feature Metrics and Autonomy Readiness: Developing a robust system to track key feature metrics and assess overall system readiness for autonomous operations.
3. Global Product Alignment: Aligning on a global product roadmap while architecting software that accommodates differences in sensor placement and low-level actuation for different vehicle designs.
4. Feature Consistency Across Platforms: Ensuring that all features perform effectively on both EU and U.S. platform variants, including compatibility across localization, perception, planning, and control layers.
Plus, based in Santa Clara, California, states they it is an AI company building “driving intelligence.” Plus’s autonomous driving solutions span from driver-out SuperDrive™, to highly automated PlusDrive®, next-gen safety technology PlusProtect™, and model-based perception software PlusVision™. Plus’s large AI models are already powering vehicles in commercial use today. Partners including Bosch, dm-drogerie markt, DSV, Hyundai Motor Company, IVECO, Luminar, Nikola, Scania / MAN / International of the TRATON GROUP, and Transurban are working with Plus to accelerate next-generation transportation solutions.
Plus noted that the deployment of the common autonomous driving software has been made possible by Plus’s generative AI technology and months of public road testing and validation. The autonomous trucks can now operate under different weather conditions from snow in Sweden to extreme heat in Texas. SuperDrive™ also dynamically adjusts to the behavior differences of road users and diverse driving conditions on both continents.
Examples of Plus L4 autonomous trucking technology in action on a recent pilot run in Texas can be found here.
Disclaimer: Richard Bishop is an Advisor to and equity holder in Plus.
