Traton said Applied Intuition would provide a scalable, extensible and modular vehicle operating system to develop vehicle software faster and AI-powered tooling for the development and validation of full vehicle software. (Traton Group via LinkedIn)
International Motors parent company Traton Group will build vehicle software platforms with Mountain View, Calif.-headquartered software group Applied Intuition, the companies said March 17.
Applied Intuition and Traton spent the past five years collaborating on advanced driver-assistance systems and automated driving development tools for International and sister companies Scania, MAN and Volkswagen Truck & Bus.
Munich-based Traton said the goal of the latest partnership is to deliver full software-defined vehicle capabilities for the truck and bus maker’s vehicles.
Silicon Valley-based Applied Intuition will provide artificial intelligence-powered software products for the vehicles globally.
Traton said Applied Intuition would provide a scalable, extensible and modular vehicle operating system to develop vehicle software faster as well as AI-powered tooling for the development and validation of full vehicle software.
“The Traton Group’s products are increasingly driven by software,” said Niklas Klingenberg, the member of the Traton executive board responsible for research and development. “We have always had strong software competencies in-house, but it’s important for us to work with a capable software partner to complement our capabilities. Applied Intuition brings expertise in modern vehicle platforms, developer tooling and a laser focus on execution speed that perfectly aligns with our goals.”
Traton is only the latest truck maker to unveil plans for a software-defined vehicle, with Volvo Group and Daimler Truck revealing plans in May 2024 to jointly develop a central operating platform for the software.
Klingenberg
The two peers of Traton inked a binding agreement on developing the standardized truck operating system in October. The JV will be based in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Daimler and Volvo also teamed up for building fuel cells for future hydrogen fuel cell electric commercial vehicles in the Cellcentric venture. And the two companies joined forces to build public charging stations for commercial vehicles in Europe through the Milence JV, and that partnership also included Traton.
Traton’s deal with Applied Intuition was announced almost 12 months to the day after Navistar — as International was known until September — MAN and Scania said they would partner with another Silicon Valley-based company, Plus, to develop autonomous Class 8 trucks.
In October, Plus said the partnership was ramping up on-road testing in Texas and Sweden of trucks fitted with its SuperDrive autonomous driving system. Fleet pilots are set to begin later in 2025 ahead of a planned commercial launch in 2027. Testing without drivers could begin in 2025 or 2026, CEO David Liu said in October.
Previously, Navistar partnered with onetime autonomous truck pioneer TuSimple. In July 2020, the companies said they expected self-driving truck production to begin in 2024. The deal was canceled in December 2022.
