IVECO, a brand of CNH Industrial N.V. announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Plus, a leading global autonomous trucking company, to jointly develop autonomous trucks.
Under the terms of the non-binding MOU, IVECO and Plus will integrate IVECO’s latest- generation S-WAY heavy-duty truck with the PlusDrive full-stack autonomous driving system. The cooperation will also explore using IVECO’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) engine system to power the jointly developed autonomous trucks. Bio-methane powered trucks are currently the only readily and at scale available alternative to diesel for a carbon neutral transport, according to the press release.
The partnership combines IVECO’s heavy-duty truck development, manufacturing, and sales with Plus’s autonomous driving technology to bring a scalable self-driving truck to market across Europe and other geographies.
IVECO is already working on ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems) together with selected companies and the cooperation with Plus will further accelerate the development of the highest levels of automation of heavy trucks. Teams of both companies will work closely to develop and deploy autonomous trucks, including one that is powered by natural gas.
Plus, headquartered in Silicon Valley, is applying full-stack self-driving technology to trucks today to enable large scale autonomous commercial transport.
