PlusAI Reveals Key Performance Indicators For Commercial Readiness
PlusAi is working with partners including TRATON GROUP's Scania, MAN, and International brands, Hyundai Motor Company, Iveco Group, Bosch, and DSV as they move towards deployment of next-generation autonomous trucks.
PlusAI has deployed autonomous driving technology across over five million miles of driving in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. These real-world operations have generated a proprietary dataset that fuels PlusAI's technology development. Leveraging this data and advanced generative AI models, PlusAI has built a generalizable "driving intelligence" platform using auto-labeling, model distillation, and highly optimized in-vehicle neural networks.
Key Performance Indicators for Commercial Launch
The KPIs just announced are Safety Case Readiness (SCR), Autonomous Miles Percentage (AMP), and Remote Assistance Free Trips (RAFT).
For safety assurance, PlusAI uses a safety case approach that is best practice in safety-critical industries including aviation, nuclear, automotive, and oil and gas. The PlusAI Safety Case Readiness metric measures how mature and complete its underlying Safety Case Framework is for SuperDrive to operate safely. The SCF is built on a multi-tiered structure of safety claims, sub-claims, and supporting evidence, organized around five core pillars that cover underlying architecture, processes, performance, and maintenance needed for safe operations. Specifically:
According to PlusAI, the Safety Case Framework supports transparency and accountability by sharing key elements of the framework with stakeholders and by aligning with industry standards and best practices, such as UL4600 and ISO26262, in automated vehicle safety assurance. The Framework provides the basis for PlusAI's risk-based approach to safety validation and helps inform regulatory engagement, operational readiness, and product maturity.
The chart below shows the evolution of the SCR factors since 2024, aiming for commercial launch.
Autonomous Miles Percentage
To assess the performance of its autonomous system, PlusAI uses the Autonomous Miles Percentage metric. This is defined as the percentage of total distance driven by SuperDrive on a specified route that is completed under full autonomous control, without intervention from a remote operator or onboard safety driver. AMP reflects SuperDrive's ability to sustain autonomous operation across varying conditions along a commercial corridor. AMP is a route-specific measure that quantifies the extent and reliability of SuperDrive in real-world operations. It complements PlusAI's Remote Assistance Free Trips metric by providing a continuous measure of autonomous engagement across distance traveled and supports readiness assessments, regulatory engagement, and system maturity evaluation.
Remote Assistance Free Trips
PlusAI's Remote Assistance Free Trips (RAFT) measure captures the percentage of autonomous trips completed without any intervention from a remote operator or an onboard safety driver on a specified commercial route. A trip is considered RAFT-compliant if SuperDrive maintains full control from departure to arrival—without any human assistance to control the vehicle. PlusAI notes that, while remote assistance will always be available if needed, this metric highlights SuperDrive's operational independence, technical maturity, and readiness for scaled deployment.
Looking at the set of charts, in the first half of 2025, PlusAI achieved significant advancements in autonomous performance metrics, reaching 86% Safety Case Readiness (SCR), 98% Autonomous Miles Percentage (AMP), and 76% Remote Assistance Free Trips (RAFT), up from 75%, 97%, and 69% respectively in the second half of 2024.
Commercial Launch Threshold
For commercial launch, PlusAI is targeting 100% Safety Case Readiness, and more than 90% Remote Assistance-Free Trips. The company says that achieving these milestones will demonstrate that SuperDrive has the safety, performance, and operational efficiency required for real-world commercial deployment, enabling trucking fleet operators to complete entire routes without human intervention.
PlusAI is currently conducting public road testing in Texas and Sweden with customer fleet trials scheduled for fall of 2025.
"We have a clear roadmap to the commercial launch of SuperDrive," said David Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of PlusAI. "By publicly sharing these performance metrics on a regular basis, we're demonstrating our unwavering commitment to the safe and scalable deployment of factory-built autonomous trucks. We believe it's essential for partners, customers, regulators, and all road users to have visibility into our safety-driven progress and our disciplined approach toward commercializing autonomous driving technology."
"Our AV 2.0 architecture marks a major shift in how we design and deliver autonomous driving systems. By replacing hand-written components with end-to-end AI models, we've simplified the overall system and accelerated performance improvements. This approach ensures we'll be ready for broad deployment as soon as our factory-built autonomous trucks begin production in 2027. We're excited to be at the forefront of autonomous driving technology," said Tim Daly, Chief Architect at PlusAI.
Looking Forward
PlusAI announced in June 2025 that it plans to go public via a merger with Churchill Capital Corp IX, with timing set for Q4 this year. As PlusAI transitions to a public company, it intends to report these KPIs regularly to provide transparency on its path to commercial launch in Texas in 2027.
PlusAI's go-to-market partner in the U.S. is truck-maker International. Per the press release, PlusAI is demonstrating steady progress toward commercial launch of factory-built autonomous trucks in 2027. Initial launch is expected to be in the Texas Triangle, later expanding to other freight corridors in the U.S. and Europe.
Last week, Aurora Innovation announced they have expanded their operational design domain to include nighttime operations. Aurora is running driverless trucks in Arizona and Texas. The company said they are close to also accommodating operations in heavy rain. For scaling up, Aurora has go-to-market partnerships with PACCAR and Volvo Group.
Another autonomous truck developer, Kodiak Robotics plans to go public via a SPAC sometime during the second half of 2025. The company provides commercial driverless trucking in an off-road setting.
Autonomous truck developers Bot Auto and Waabi have announced plans to begin commercial driverless operations later this year.
While autonomous trucks are generally allowed in the U.S. due to the lack of any specific vehicle regulations, the full rollout will be accelerated by effective federal regulations. The Autonomous Vehicles Industry Association (AVIA) has been advocating this for some time. Now the political winds are blowing favorably. Last month, California Congressman Vince Fong introduced the AMERICA DRIVES Act, an acronym for 'Autonomous Mobility Ensuring Regulation, Innovation, Commerce, and Advancement Driving Reliability in Vehicle Efficiency and Safety' Act. Industry appears to be in support of the provisions in the Act.
Legacy truck OEMs own the supply chain, the factories, the support network, and the customer relationships. Thus, OEMs are critical to commercialization when it comes to scaling truck autonomy. For AV truck players who don't have such a partnership, the road ahead is challenging.
All in all, the tech is working 'in the wild' and steadily getting better. In the wilds of Congress, we're seeing the most momentum yet in setting a Federal Safety Framework for truck autonomy.
Driverless trucking is showing promise. Across multiple players, the truck autonomy space is moving steadily into the commercialization phase.
Disclosure: Richard Bishop is an Advisor to and/or an equity holder in the following companies mentioned in this article: Aurora, Plus.
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