Nikola will offer a hands-free highway driving system for its trucks starting next year

Nikola will begin offering an advanced driver-assist system on its electric heavy trucks starting late next year, the company said Wednesday.

The system, made by Plus and called PlusDrive, is similar to the hands-free highway driving systems offered by automakers including Tesla, General Motors and Ford Motor – while a human driver must be present and attentive, the system can handle most highway driving tasks on its own, in addition to assisting the human driver in non-highway situations including backing up to loading docks.  

Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller said in a release that the electric steering and braking systems already used in the company’s trucks will simplify the integration of Plus’s system, which includes radar, cameras and lidar sensors to detect obstacles around the truck.

Plus already provides the PlusDrive system to Italian heavy-truck maker IVECO, a longtime Nikola partner. IVECO began testing its own PlusDrive-enabled trucks earlier this month.

Nikola said that several of its fleet customers, including PGT Trucking and Christenson Transportation, have agreed to test prototype PlusDrive-enabled Nikola semitrucks. The company expects to begin offering PlusDrive on its regular production battery-electric and fuel-cell trucks by the end of 2024.

Nikola will report its fourth-quarter and full-year results before the U.S. markets open on Thursday.