Navistar International Corp. announced that it has plans for a new truck company, electric trucks
and a class 8 truck with a level 2 option. The company will also major its reliance on a single-
vehicle basis to enhance research and development, spare parts and tools in 2020. According to
Navistar Chairman and CEO Troy Clarke, over the past few years, the company has experienced
growth and has become a company people would love to work with, after a great deal of hard
work.

The company executives reiterated that the company has had to do a lot to recover from its loss
of reputation and customers after the previous MaxxForce engines failed to live up to the strict
federal emissions standards of 2007-10, which the former management had claimed that they
would be compliant. Navistar set aside $135 million in May to handle lawsuits. Clarke echoed
that Navistar’s International is now a rejuvenated brand with a total of four broad brands.
The company is set to spend $250 million to put up a new truck plant in San Antonio. The
production process is expected to start in two years, producing Classes 6-8 trucks. Clarke also
said that there had been growth in terms of demand and use of advanced driver assistance
systems in the North American truck market.

Clarke added that they are working with Traton (a company the owns 17% of Navistar) on the
next iterations of the Integrated Level 2 ADAS option as the marketing process of the same is
expected to be a priority in the early stages 2020. Level 2 automation means that although there
would be a driver, the truck can automatically steer itself, accelerate and brake. In the initial
stages, Navistar’s focus on electrified vehicles will be majorly on Classes 6-7 trucks and school buses. Navistar is working on the expansion of the Alabama engine plant to have room for future developments.

Navistar also works with the redundant safety systems platform that is meant to help complement
the sensors and computers for completion of the trucks. Startups such as TuSimple and Plus.ai
are the companies working with Navistar on the invention. Clarke admitted that the technology is
quite impressive and the industry is working on it, it remains just a question of when it will be
ready.

The level 4 automated driving, on the other hand, can drive itself when put under some specific
conditions without a driver’s input. According to Persio Lisboa, there will be a massive reduction
of parts with increased productivity. The enhancements that began back in 2016 are to lead to
improvements in the market and remaining competitive in terms of cost. Navistar has set goals to
be achieved by 2022 and 2024.