Dive Brief:
- International Motors and AV technology company PlusAI are piloting autonomous trucks for fleets on Interstate 35 between Laredo, Texas, and Dallas, the companies announced Monday.
- The customer fleet trials are part of PlusAI’s plans to close its safety case, validate driverless routes in 2026 and launch commercial operations in 2027, VP of Operations Amisha Vadalia told Trucking Dive.
- “By working hand-in-hand with our customers, we are proving the commercial viability of autonomous technologies and providing innovative solutions that improve safety, efficiency, and the bottom line,” Tobias Glitterstam, International’s chief strategy and transformation officer, said in a news release.
Dive Insight:
While other AV companies might build their own networks to offer freight, PlusAI seeks to leverage OEMs’ existing frameworks by acting more as a technology partner.
“We're not trying to reinvent the wheel with things that Traton and International companies are already very good at, right?” Vadalia said, talking about International parent company Traton. “So we're working with them directly with their base vehicle and then working with them to integrate our software into that.”
International will execute and haul the loads in the customer fleet trials, fueled by PlusAI software, and initial trials will have drivers onboard the trucks.
At the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo earlier this spring, International Autonomous Business Development Director James Cooper expressed optimism about the AV space, saying, “What we’ve really seen for the last 18 months, two years, is an industry that’s really started to mature — both in the development of the technology but also the development of the supply chain.”
In announcing the fleet trials this month, Cooper said autonomous development in key corridors such as I-35 will “guide the roadmap for scaling autonomy across major freight hubs.”
