TRATON paid Plus $25 million for Level 4 data to speed up its own Level 2+ software

A Form S-4 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 9 published the Autonomy Acceleration Program Agreement between Plus Automation and TRATON AB, entered into on March 26 this year. The registration statement covers Plus Automation’s merger with Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp, and the agreement appeared in the public record as an exhibit to it.

TRATON agreed to pay $25,000,000, allocated across ten discrete deliverables valued between $250,000 and $6,100,000, each payable only on delivery and TRATON’s acceptance. The filing stated that all of the deliverables had been delivered. The recitals give the purpose as supporting “the accelerated progress of that certain Level 2+ autonomous vehicle solution being separately developed by TRATON,” and describe the arrangement as separate from and independent of the Level 4 collaboration agreement the two signed on December 11, 2023.

The license is non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual and fully paid up, and covers use of the deliverables for any business purpose other than on-road Level 4 applications — a term the filing redacts. Deliverables from the ninth and tenth milestones may be used for highway long-haul Level 4 work under the earlier agreement, and TRATON may distribute the deliverables in object code as part of its larger Level 2+ system. The license survives a Plus bankruptcy. The term is three years.

The same filing showed how much of Plus Automation the payment represents. Revenue for the six months to June 30 was $25,075,000, of which $25,000,000 came from Sweden and $75,000 from the United States. Subject to closing, TRATON receives warrants for up to 7,500,000 Class A shares at $11.50, vesting against $100 million, $200 million and $400 million of cumulative revenue from TRATON-branded trucks fitted with Plus technology, and a TRATON designee is expected to join the board.