Plus Wins RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award for its Autonomous Driving Technology for Semi Trucks

• Plus is the only company to be recognized for this distinction in autonomous trucking technology development
• The commercial readiness of PlusDrive and its demonstrated benefits of improved safety, fuel efficiency, and sustainability for Class 8 trucks edged the company to its winning position
• This is the second award for Plus this year, the first of which is the 2021 CES Innovation Award Honoree

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Plus (formerly Plus.ai), a global provider of self-driving truck technology, announced today that it has won the 2021 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award for its driver-in, supervised autonomous driving system, PlusDrive. PlusDrive is recognized for its readiness for commercial deployment to truck fleets, ease of use, and ability to help improve road safety, increase fuel efficiency, enhance driver comfort, and reduce carbon emissions.

Produced by Robotics Business Review for the past decade, the annual RBR50 list celebrates forward-thinking organizations around the world and their original, impactful creations. “For the robotics sector, the role, importance, and impact of innovation has never been greater,” said Dan Kara, vice president of robotics at WTWH Media. “With this year’s RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards, Robotics Business Review highlights those critical innovations, and the organizations responsible for them, that will spur the development of new robotics solutions and drive robotics adoption forward.”

Shawn Kerrigan, COO and Co-founder at Plus, commented: “We are honored to be among the fifty companies in the world to win the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award this year. The award is a testament to the ground-breaking work by our engineering team and the tremendous progress Plus has made to deliver on the promise of autonomous trucking technology to improve safety, efficiency, driver comfort, and sustainability. With PlusDrive, fleets can start enjoying those benefits now.”

Earlier this year, Plus was selected by an elite panel of industry expert judges to be a CES® 2021 Innovation Awards Honoree. The award recognized the exceptional design of PlusDrive, the technologies behind it, and the massive value it will create for the long-haul trucking industry and our society.

The commercial deployment of PlusDrive is gaining speed globally. PlusDrive is being integrated with existing trucks of the largest fleets in the U.S. and China so that they can benefit from the supervised autonomous driving technology today. A large U.S. fleet has a contract for 1,000 units of PlusDrive, which Plus has started delivering in February 2021. SF Express is currently running a commercial pilot using Plus’s driver-in autonomous driving system. PlusDrive has also been selected to power trucks from two of the top 10 global truck manufacturers, FAW and IVECO. The FAW J7L3 trucks powered by PlusDrive will start mass production this year. IVECO is working with Plus to jointly develop PlusDrive-powered natural gas autonomous trucks for Europe, China, and other markets. Plus is also collaborating with Cummins on a natural gas-powered driver-in autonomous truck.

About Plus

Plus is a global leader in autonomous driving technology for long-haul trucking, headquartered in Silicon Valley and founded in 2016 by serial entrepreneurs and industry veterans who have extensive experience in high tech and artificial intelligence. Plus is developing low-cost, high-performance full-stack Level 4 autonomous driving technology to make long-haul trucking safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. Mass production and global deployment of its driver-in autonomous driving technology, which reduces fuel consumption by an estimated 10% compared to a traditional truck, is planned to start in the second half of 2021. Plus is also collaborating with leading truck manufacturers, fleets, and ecosystem partners to drive the development of decarbonization transportation solutions including autonomous trucks powered by natural gas. For more information, please visit www.plus.ai or follow us on LinkedIn or YouTube.

On May 10, 2021, Plus and Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. V (NASDAQ: HCIC) (“HCIC V” or “Hennessy Capital”) entered into a definitive business combination agreement. Upon closing of the proposed business combination, Plus will be a publicly traded company and its common stock is expected to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “PLAV”. The proposed business combination has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both Plus and HCIC V and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, subject to the satisfaction of the necessary regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, including the approval of HCIC V’s shareholders.