Plus and Traton Group have announced the release of Level 4, AI-based, autonomous driving software. Dubbed SuperDrive, the Beta 5.0 version of the system is now operational in Traton autonomous trucks in both Europe and the U.S. The companies have also mapped hub-to-hub routes for phased commercial deployment in Texas.

SuperDrive has been tested for months on public roads on both continents. Test trucks have included Traton brands Scania, Man and International.

Scania-Led Development

Plus and Traton said in a press release that the software launch marks the successful completion of their initial phase of collaboration to bring driverless trucks to the world. 

“Deploying a global product requires seamless integration across people and technology,” said Peter Hafmar, vice president and head of autonomous solutions at Scania. “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.”

Scania is leading the coordination of Autonomous Solutions for the Traton Group.

According to Hafmar, the achievement highlights the commitment to excellence from the Traton Group brands and Plus, as well as 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.

Safe and Scalable Autonomous Solutions

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:

• A Defined Testing Process: Implementing a regular and thorough testing regimen to ensure reliability and performance.

• Feature Metrics and Autonomy Readiness: Developing a robust system to track key feature metrics and assess overall system readiness for autonomous operations.

• 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.

• 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.

“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,” said Shawn Kerrigan, COO and co-founder at Plus. “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.”

Deployment of the common autonomous driving software is made possible by Plus’s generative AI technology and months of public road testing and validation, according to the companies.