Industry heavyweight Mitsubishi Fuso has signed a deal with electric van startup REE Automotive to co-develop software-defined and x-by-wire technology for the next-generation of medium-duty delivery vehicles.
REE Automotive has been somewhat quiet recently, primarily working behind-the-scenes to raise its stock price back into NASDAQ compliance – and the newly-announced strategic partnership with Mitsubishi Fuso to collaborate and a develop software-defined vehicle (SDV) for the Japanese brand that utilizes REE’s existing SDV architecture and x-by-wire “smart corner” technology (XBW) should go a long way towards building some confidence in the Tel Aviv-based company’s long-term prospects.
“We are proud to collaborate with the exceptional team at Mitsubishi Fuso, aligning our shared vision for innovation in next-generation commercial vehicles. Together, we are committed to delivering smarter, safer solutions,” explains Dan Barel, co-founder and CEO of REE. “Software-defined vehicles represent a transformative leap, enabling faster development of next-generation commercial vehicles through continuous AI-powered over-the-air (OTA) updates. By leveraging both companies’ strengths, we believe that we have a unique opportunity to set a new industry benchmark for commercial vehicles that support autonomous solutions.”
The two companies’ SDV tech promises to minimize downtime, reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) for commercial operators, and enable new, data-driven revenue streams.
“For Mitsubishi, joining forces with REE made sense,” writes Clean Trucking‘s Jay Traugott. “(Mitsubishi Fuso) was lacking a performance-proven, scalable, vehicle platform architecture as well as an ECU design capable of integrating and reducing hardware complexity.”
Not the first
While the pressure is on REE to meaningfully raise its stock price by the 29DEC deadline if it wants to stay on the NASDAQ, it’s worth noting that REE has announced similar deals with established industry partners before – a list that includes Morgan Olson, Toyota Hino, and others over the last five-ish years. Notably, none of those partnerships have lead to volume production.
It remains to be seen, then, if and how this deal with Mitsubishi will be substantially different – but here’s hoping it is. REE’s “smart corners” are too cool a concept to die on the vine. Check it out for yourself, below, then let us know what you think in the comments.
REECorners explained
SOURCE | IMAGES: REE, via Clean Trucking.
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