Self-driving trucks

Amazon has approached California-based start-up Plus to equip its first thousand trucks with its autonomous driving system. Amazon plans to buy a 20 per cent stake in Plus, which is entering mass production of its PlusDrive system this year.

Amazon (AMZN) has made a large order for 1,000 autonomous driving systems from truck technology startup Plus.

In addition, according to Plus' regulatory filing, the e-commerce giant has acquired an option to buy a 20% stake in the startup. It is worth noting that last year Amazon unveiled an electric delivery van developed with private company Rivian, announcing plans for a fleet of 100,000 by 2030.

Making cars environmentally friendly vehicles with computer control systems for greater safety and cost savings is the goal of any major automaker or company with a large fleet.

By achieving this goal, Amazon can meet its commitment to minimizing its environmental footprint, and in the long term, the investment will pay off and generate substantial profits.

The Cupertino-based company Plus features a mass production launch this year of its PlusDrive autonomous driving system, which can be installed on existing cars or in partnership with carmakers during the production phase. The PlusDrive system includes both software with machine learning technology and hardware (radars, LiDAR and cameras) that provide a 360 degree sensing system.

Plus claims to have received thousands of orders or pre-orders from customers in the US and China. China's state-owned automaker FAW Group plans to begin mass production of jointly developed autonomous trucks as early as this quarter, Plus says.

The company is also working with IVECO, one of the world's leading truck manufacturers, to jointly develop autonomous trucks to be used in China, Europe and other regions.

To attract more investment to increase production and expand its customer base, Plus intends to go public through a business combination with Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. The deal represents Plus' post-merger market capitalisation of about $3.3bn at closing.

Amazon shares are up 6.35 per cent in the last month and 29 per cent in the last 12 months.