Plus said its mission is to deliver autonomous driving software that creates value in commercial trucking. | Source: Plus
Plus Automation Inc., which is commercializing software and artificial intelligence for autonomous trucks, yesterday announced that it is going public. Churchill Capital Corp IX, a special purpose acquisition company or SPAC, acquired the company. The combined entity will operate as PlusAI.
“Trucking is the backbone of the global economy, but the industry faces a persistent driver shortage that autonomous trucking has the potential to solve,” stated Michael Klein, chairman and CEO of Churchill IX.
“Broad adoption depends on confidence in vehicle performance and safety, and Plus stands out with its advanced virtual driver platform and a customer-centric commercialization model led by OEM partners,” he added. “With a software-focused, capital-efficient model, Plus is well-positioned to scale, and we’re excited to partner with their talented team to support the company’s next phase of growth.”
Founded in 2016 by technology entrepreneurs with experience in engineering, AI, and machine learning, Plus set out to develop a virtual driver system. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has deployed autonomous vehicle technology across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. So far, its technology has been used for more than 5 million miles of driving.
SuperDrive enables Level 4 autonomous trucks
SuperDrive is the core of the Plus technology suite. The system enables SAE Level 4 autonomous driving, said the company. It features a three-layer redundancy architecture and is purpose-built to autonomously operate heavy commercial trucks.
In April 2025, Plus said it achieved a key driver-out safety validation milestone with SuperDrive. The company is currently conducting public road testing in Texas and Sweden, with additional customer fleet trials scheduled for the fall of 2025.
Plus is targeting the commercial launch of SuperDrive-enabled, factory-built autonomous trucks in 2027, beginning in the U.S. and then expanding into Europe. The company also maintains operations in California, Texas, and Germany to support commercialization and deployment.
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Plus lets OEMs lead the way to commercialization
Plus has centered its go-to-market strategy on deep integration with commercial vehicle makers, like TRATON GROUP, Hyundai, and IVECO. The company said it expects these OEMs to factory-build, validate, deliver, and support autonomous trucks powered by its virtual driver.
This OEM-led model allows for scalable deployment through trusted manufacturing and service channels, noted Plus. These channels provide fleet operators with a path to autonomy, it said. Supporting this model are strategic collaborations with industry players such as DSV, Bosch, and NVIDIA, which are working alongside Plus and its OEM partners to accelerate the rollout of autonomous capabilities to commercial fleets.
In November, Plus and IVECO launched an automated trucking pilot in Germany. The companies are working with dm-drogerie markt, a large European retail chain of drugstores, and DSV, a transport and logistics provider based in Denmark.
The pilot will involve an IVECO heavy-duty truck integrated with AI-based, driver-supervised, highly automated driving software. The truck will drive along a DSV route to transport dm-drogerie markt products in Germany’s Baden Württemberg-Hessen region.
SPAC transaction worth $300M
The transaction values Plus at a pre-money equity value of $1.2 billion. The company said it expects to gain $300 million in gross proceeds from the transaction. Plus said this investment will fund it through the planned commercial launch of factory-built autonomous trucks in 2027.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Plus and Churchill IX and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including approval by shareholders of each company.
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