International and PlusAI launch driverless truck fleet trials in Texas

“The main differentiator between what you’re seeing with other autonomous trucking companies that are currently working towards building their own independent network is we really believe that OEMs are best placed to lead these operations,” said Amisha Vadalia, vice president of operations at PlusAI, in an interview with FreightWaves.

According to Vadalia, the initial rollout along the I-35 corridor between Dallas and Laredo will eventually expand across the Texas Triangle and later through the lower Sunbelt states. This is part of a wider Traton partnership with a later planned expansion throughout Europe as PlusAI looks toward full AV commercialization in 2027.

“We don’t need to reinvent how trucking is working. We just want to take the existing model that’s working for fleets and make it better. So we’re ensuring that these fleet trials are going to directly integrate into the existing fleet operations,” said Vadalia.

Vadalia adds the deployment is a two-way feedback loop, as fleets testing the technology are able to give PlusAI direct feedback on what requirements they see these autonomous trucks needing for full driverless operations.

“So in terms of all of the operations, they are going to be run by International. So it’s going to be their driver. They’ve gone through training on the autonomous software that PlusAI has created,” added Vadalia.

One example of unique operational challenges driverless trucks face is the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance enhanced pre-trip inspections. “Every vehicle that’s going to be going on the road is going to have the thorough inspection completed at the start of every day. And so again, it gives us a good opportunity to figure out what are the differences in timing that we have to work through,” said Vadalia.

Another question to answer is if there is a different standard of base vehicle performance or maintenance compared to a human driver.

For now, PlusAI is okay with two people in the truck while testing the software. “We’re starting off with the two-vehicle-operator approach, but then eventually, as our fleet trials scale, we’ll move that then to one vehicle operator, and then next year, we’re planning to get started on the on-road driverless validation in preparation for that projected 2027 launch,” said Vadalia.

In the two-vehicle-operator setup, it has a trained AV safety driver who is in the driver’s seat and is a traditional commercial driver who also has gone through the AV training. And in the right seat, there is a vehicle test engineer whose primary focus is the data enrichment piece, including making notes of interesting scenarios for PlusAI’s software team.

It’s a crawl-walk-run approach. “And then the next phase would be the one-vehicle-operator approach. That’s when you remove the right-seater, and it’ll just be the safety driver who’s going to be operating. And then you move to fully driverless,” added Vadalia.

This comes as PlusAI recently announced in June that it is going public via a SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp. IX.