IVECO, the commercial vehicle brand of Iveco Group and Plus, a global provider of highly automated driving and autonomous driving solutions, announced that this the companies are starting public road testing of their jointly developed next generation highly automated trucks in Germany.
As a part of the public road testing, the companies will collect road data to validate their autonomous truck’s operations and start designing the potential factory production. The PlusDrive-enabled IVECO S-WAY truck is designed to improve safety, efficiency, driver experience, and to provide a more sustainable option for fleets.
“Germany is a leader and trendsetter in autonomous driving, so we are excited to launch our public testing program in a country that has long embraced technology innovation and the life-changing impact of safety solutions like highly automated trucks,” said Marco Liccardo, Chief Technology & Digital Officer, Iveco Group. “This is an important phase in our plans to bring highly automated trucks to market.”
The public road testing starts in Germany, and will expand to Austria, Italy, and Switzerland in the coming months. Each country’s unique roadways and driving conditions will expose the highly automated truck to a broad range of terrains, road gradients, weather conditions and driving scenarios. This will help to continuously expand the capabilities and features of Plus’s autonomous driving technology.
“Real-world experience is an invaluable part of the testing and validation of our technology as we prepare our autonomous driving product for commercial deployment in Europe,” said Shawn Kerrigan, COO and Co-founder at Plus. “Given that Germany alone faces a shortage of 60,000 truck drivers, our highly automated driving solution, PlusDrive, will help improve road safety, sustainability, and driver recruitment and retention issues confronting fleets in the region.”