Plus Announces Driverless Semi Demonstration: What Investors Should Know

An autonomous trucking company going public via SPAC shared details of a successful driverless highway test.

What Happened: Plus, which is going public via the SPAC Hennessy Capital Investment Corp V HCIC, has completed a driverless Level 4 truck demonstration on a highway.

The test was conducted using Plus’s Level 4 autonomous driving technology, without a safety driver and featured no human intervention. The test was conducted on the Wufengshan highway in China.

Plus obtained a special permit to conduct the test on the newly built highway.

Related Link: Autonomous Trucking Company Plus Announces SPAC Deal: What Investors Should Know 

Why It’s Important: Plus is one of several companies seeking to create an autonomous semi-truck in an effort to provide cost savings and help with a driver shortage in the industry.

“The driverless demo highlights the ability of our Level 4 autonomous driving technology to enable driverless highway operations in a semi truck,” Plus COO and Co-Founder Shawn Kerrigan said.

Plus expects to launch pilot operations of driverless trucks in 2022. The company will work with its suppliers and fleet customers to further develop and test a driverless product.

PlusDrive is being developed by Plus as a commercial driver-in product for semi trucks. Mass production of the FAW J7 L3 truck that's powered by PlusDrive will start in the third quarter of 2021, according to the company.