Paccar Inc of Bellevue, Washington, coinciding with the launch of the new Paccar TX-8 automatic transmission and updated Paccar PX engines for its new medium-duty truck models, it has announced that all existing Paccar Powertrain components will be rebranded to align with this newest member of the family.

The Ministry of Transportation for the Government of Taiwan has announced it is to part fund two autonomous self-driving buses to operate on two regular bus services in the city of Tainin.

Coinciding with the new medium-duty truck models for the Class 5&6 market segments,  Peterbilt Motors Company of Denton, Texas, part of Paccar Inc, has also  launched this new ‘medium’ truck design in the Class 7/8 market segments, under Model 537 and Model 548.

Peterbilt Motors Company of Denton, Texas, part of Paccar Inc, has launched a new range of medium-duty trucks, Model 535 and Model 536, designed for the Class 5/6 non-CDL (non-commercial driver-licence) lease and rental markets.

Volvo Trucks North America Inc of Greenboro, North Carolina, in announcing the supply of a Volvo VNR Electric to Quality Custom Distribution - the first zero-emission, battery-electric truck to be deployed in QCD’s fleet of more than 700 vehicles – has also announced production of the Class 8 electric truck slated to begin in early 2021 at the company’s New River Valley manufacturing plant in Dublin, Virginia.

Mercedes-Benz AG of Stuttgart, Germany has announced the next generation eSprinter van is to be built, starting from the second half of 2023, at three of the company’s global locations in North Charleston, South Carolina, USA, and in Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde, Germany.

Private equity firm, ClearVue Partners of Shanghai, China (est. 2012) has completed a Series C funding round for Plus (formerly Plus.ai), a provider of self-driving truck technology in the US and China, raising USD220m. ClearVue is the co-lead investor of the financing round.

Linamar Corporation of Livonia, Michigan has entered the evaluation phase for its first Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle delivery vans with UPS in California. They are part of a technology contract with the Centre for Transportation and the Environment which is managing the Next Generation Fuel Cell Delivery Van Deployment Project for the California Air Resources Board.

Volvo’s Class 8 VNL long haul heavy-duty tractor truck is celebrating over a quarter century of production at the company’s New River Valley plant in Virginia, USA, where it has been assembled since its launch in 1996.

A Volvo Group subsidiary, Volvo Autonomous Solutions based in Gothenburg, Sweden, has entered a strategic partnership with start-up software company, Aurora Innovations Inc of Mountain View, California, United States to develop jointly global autonomous transport solutions at scale.

Aludyne Inc of Southfield, Michigan has acquired the CastLight division from Shiloh Industries Inc of Valley City, Ohio. CastLight custom die casting solutions provides a full line of advanced engineered products in both aluminium and magnesium.

Bus builder, Blue Bird Corporation of Fort Valley, Georgia has voiced its support for the newly introduced 'Clean Commute for Kids Act of 2021.' The Act provides purchase assistance for electric school buses and is authorised to provide funding of up to USD2.5bn a year for districts, allowing affordable purchase of electric school buses.