Traton to Invest €1 billion in Next-Gen Truck Tech

Volkswagen AG’s Traton commercial truck unit plans to spend €1 billion ($1.1 billion) over the next five years on advanced research and development.

VW spun off the business (formerly VW Truck and Bus) in June. The group is comprised of the MAN, Scania and Brazil-based VW Caminhoes e Onibus brands.

The investment will focus on autonomous driving and connected vehicle technologies. This supports Traton’s plan to evolve from a traditional vehicle company to a provider of software and services.

Traton currently is working on a common platform for automated systems across its brands. The joint program is expected to reduce costs, speed development and improve performance.

Traton employs about 2,000 software specialists, which the company says accounts for nearly 30% of its engineering staff.

Since the beginning of 2019, nearly every new MAN and Scania medium- and heavy-duty truck has included some sort of connected vehicle technology. Traton expects more than 1 million such vehicles will be on the road by 2025.

Scania has been operating autonomous trucks for mining applications in Australia for about two years. The unit also is preparing to begin a pilot program with an automated shuttle bus in Stockholm. MAN is testing an autonomous driving system at the port in Hamburg, Germany.