PlusAI is conducting a commercial pilot with an unnamed carrier in Texas using International LT Series trucks fitted with SuperDrive. (PlusAI)
March 12, 2026 1:42 PM, EDT
Key Takeaways:
- PlusAI unveiled SuperDrive 6.0 with new night driving and construction zone capabilities as it expands autonomous truck testing on the I‑35 corridor in Texas.
- The company says the upgrades could enable 24/7 freight operations and boost truck utilization, supported by new partnerships and fresh R&D funding from Traton.
- A shareholder vote on PlusAI’s planned merger with Churchill Capital Corp IX is now set for April 15, paving the way for a Nasdaq listing.
PlusAI is continuing to expand the capabilities of its SuperDrive autonomous truck software, adding night driving and construction zone handling with the latest iteration.
Overnight 24/7 commercial freight deliveries could potentially more than double the utilization of a truck, PlusAI said March 5.
The company expects to introduce night driving on customer routes in the coming weeks.
PlusAI is conducting a commercial pilot with an unnamed carrier in Texas using International LT Series trucks fitted with SuperDrive.
The tests are taking place on the Interstate 35 corridor between Laredo and Dallas, Texas, and are being managed from International’s autonomous hub in San Antonio.
“SuperDrive 6.0 isn’t an incremental update; it’s a major advancement of what an autonomous ‘brain’ can do,” said David Liu, CEO of PlusAI. “By adding night driving and construction zone handling, autonomous trucks with SuperDrive could achieve 24/7 commercial operations.”
SuperDrive 6.0 introduces a distributed compute architecture across multi-node, high-performance chips engineered to meet the uptime and efficiency needs of commercial freight operations, including Nvidia Drive Orin and Thor.
PlusAI, whose SuperDrive software will operate factory-built autonomous trucks, is working toward a commercial launch in 2027.
(PlusAI via YouTube)
Santa Clara, Calif.-based PlusAI has partnerships with manufacturers including Traton Group’s International Motors, Scania and MAN divisions, along with Iveco and Hyundai.
Since the start of 2026, PlusAI has expanded its partnerships with both Traton and Iveco.
Traton committed up to $25 million in dedicated research and development funding for PlusAI at the end of January. A great deal of the investment will be focused on accelerating factory integration of SuperDrive into autonomous trucks within the Traton group.
“Autonomous trucking is a strategic pillar of Traton’s long-term technology road map,” said Niklas Klingenberg, an executive board member at Traton. “Autonomy represents a meaningful opportunity to deliver higher uptime and greater value for our fleet customers while strengthening the long-term competitiveness of our brands.”
PlusAI and Iveco are set to develop two Iveco S-Way heavy-duty trucks with SuperDrive aboard, they said. The autonomous trucks will undergo multiyear testing in Spain beginning later in 2026.
Also, PlusAI is working toward going public on the Nasdaq exchange. The company will begin trading publicly after its merger with special purpose acquisition company Churchill Capital Corp IX is completed.
The SPAC has rescheduled the date of an extraordinary general meeting to vote on the merger twice in the first quarter of 2026, initially to allow Churchill additional time to work with its shareholders and then due to what were termed “current market conditions.” The EGM will now take place on April 15.
