Daimler Truck and Volvo Group have signed a binding agreement to establish a new 50/50 joint venture to develop a software-defined vehicle platform for heavy duty vehicles and drive the industry transformation.

The common goal of the partners is to develop a truck operating system and to offer the joint venture's brand- and versatile application-agnostic products to other commercial vehicle OEMs.

Daimler Truck and Volvo Group will remain competitors in all other business areas and will continue to focus on an independent product and service offering, including the respective differentiating digital customer offerings.

The joint venture’s activities will include the specification and procurement of centralized high-performance control units dedicated for commercial vehicles and capable of handling large amounts of data. The new company will develop an operating system and tools which vehicle manufacturers can use as a basis to develop their own differentiating digital vehicle features. This will decouple software and hardware development cycles in the future and enable customers to purchase and update digital applications wirelessly ‘over the air’, ultimately enhancing customer efficiency and experience.

The transaction for the joint venture is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025, subject to obtaining all required regulatory approvals.