Traton Group is expanding its partnership with autonomous truck technology provider PlusAI, committing up to $25 million in dedicated research and development funding to support the factory integration and scaled commercial deployment of autonomous trucks in the U.S. and Europe.

Under the expanded deal, Traton will provide non-dilutive research and development (R&D) funding to PlusAI to advance integration of the SuperDrive system into its truck platforms. In connection with PlusAI’s planned public listing, Traton will also nominate a representative to PlusAI’s board of directors to further align the organizations as they prepare for a planned U.S. commercial launch, according to a news release.

The group will be eligible to receive warrants that vest based on initial deployment revenue milestones, a structure intended to align both companies around commercialization and scaled adoption.

“Autonomous trucking is a strategic pillar of Traton’s long-term technology roadmap,” said Niklas Klingenberg, member of the executive board responsible for R&D at Traton Group. “Autonomy represents a meaningful opportunity to deliver higher uptime and greater value for our fleet customers while strengthening the long-term competitiveness of our brands. Our expanded partnership will reflect both this confidence and our shared goal of bringing factory-built on-road autonomous trucks to market at scale.”

“Together with Traton, we’ve moved autonomy from the lab to factory integration and now to real-world operations,” said David Liu, CEO and co-founder of PlusAI. “We now have a common Level 4 software stack operating in Europe and the U.S., proven integration on truck platforms of Traton’s brands, successful driverless validation, and customer pilots underway. The expanded partnership allows us to build on this momentum and accelerate towards scaled commercial deployment.”