PlusAI Launches SuperDrive™ 6.0 to Accelerate Scaled Commercialization of Driverless Autonomous Trucking Operations

SuperDrive™ 6.0 unlocks night driving and construction zone handling, enabled by 10X faster AI training on the updated production-grade architecture

PlusAI today announced the release of SuperDrive™ 6.0, the latest version of its autonomous driving software engineered for commercial-scale deployment. The new release introduces crucial capabilities for commercial freight operations including night driving and construction zone handling. By boosting the speed of its AI model training by 10X, SuperDrive 6.0 also enables rapid feature deployment and validation. Built on over 7 million miles of real-world driving across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, SuperDrive 6.0 is a major advancement that moves the company closer to scalable fully driverless commercial deployment targeted for 2027 with factory built trucks. This announcement comes as PlusAI plans to become publicly listed via a business combination with Churchill Capital Corp IX (NASDAQ:CCIX).

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"SuperDrive 6.0 isn't an incremental update; it's a major advancement of what an autonomous 'brain' can do," said David Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of PlusAI. "By adding night driving and construction zone handling, autonomous trucks with SuperDrive could achieve 24/7 commercial operations. By doubling our predictive accuracy and supercharging our AI development pipeline, we have the potential to accelerate our development and expand our operating environment faster. From internal validation of a major feature to its deployment into commercial freight operations can take just weeks."

Operating in Strategic Freight Corridors of Texas

Autonomous trucks integrated with SuperDrive 6.0 are already moving commercial freight in Texas. In addition to overall performance boost, the construction zone handling capability on SuperDrive 6.0 is active, and we expect to release night driving in the coming weeks for 24/7 commercial freight operation on customer routes. Being able to handle construction zones and night driving helps to enhance road safety and efficiency. Thousands of traffic accidents occur in Texas construction zones each year due to speeding, driver inattention and unsafe lane changes. Additionally, overnight 24/7 commercial freight deliveries could potentially more than double the utilization of a truck.

A Step-Change in AI Economics by Accelerating Speed and Scalability

SuperDrive 6.0 delivers significant improvements in the cost structure of autonomous vehicle development, an area of critical importance to long-term unit economics. Through a combination of autolabeling, imitation learning, and reinforcement learning, PlusAI has achieved a 10X improvement in AI training speed and a 3X reduction in data labeling costs. These gains enable faster deployment of new features, operating environments, and new routes that SuperDrive can operate in. The tighter cycle from simulation to on-road validation and commercial operation directly compresses time-to-revenue and improves scalability.

Production-Grade Architecture Built for Reliability

SuperDrive 6.0 introduces a distributed compute architecture across multi-node, high-performance system-on-chips, including NVIDIA DRIVE Orin and Thor, engineered to meet the uptime and efficiency needs of commercial freight operations. The system maintains performance under sensor degradation, calibration drift, and partial hardware failure: conditions that define the difference between a demonstration system and a commercially deployable product.

At the core of the SuperDrive system is a new Transformer-based "Reflex" layer in the PlusAI AV 2.0 architecture which combines large-scale perception and advanced motion forecasting. The motion forecasting sub-model achieves a 2X improvement in predicting the trajectories of dynamic actors such as merging vehicles, pedestrians, and lane-changing traffic, leading to safer and smoother real-time decision-making.

Clear Path to Targeted 2027 Scalable Driverless Commercial Launch

SuperDrive 6.0 moves PlusAI a step closer to the planned fully driverless commercial operations launch using factory-built autonomous trucks in 2027. In addition to unlocking important new features of night driving and construction zone handling, the system enables PlusAI to rapidly release new features and new operating environments and routes in the future.

About PlusAI

PlusAI is an artificial intelligence company pioneering AI-based virtual driver software for factory-built autonomous trucks. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with operations in the United States and Europe, PlusAI was named by Fast Company as one of the World's Most Innovative Companies. Partners including TRATON GROUP's Scania, MAN, and International brands, Hyundai Motor Company, Iveco Group, NVIDIA, Bosch, DSV, and Goodyear are working with PlusAI to accelerate the deployment of next-generation autonomous trucks. PlusAI announced in June 2025 that it plans to go public via a merger with Churchill IX. For more information, visit www.plus.ai or follow PlusAI on LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.

Additional Information About the Proposed Transaction and Where to Find It

The proposed transaction will be submitted to shareholders of Churchill IX for their consideration. Churchill IX has filed the Registration Statement with the SEC, which includes a proxy statement/prospectus that has been distributed to Churchill IX's shareholders in connection with Churchill IX's solicitation of proxies for the vote by Churchill IX's shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction and other matters described in the Registration Statement, as well as the prospectus relating to the offer of the securities to be issued to PlusAI stockholders in connection with the completion of the proposed transaction. The Registration Statement has been declared effective by the SEC and Churchill IX has mailed a proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant documents to its shareholders as of the record date established for voting on the proposed transaction. Before making any voting or investment decision, Churchill IX shareholders, PlusAI stockholders and other interested persons are advised to read the proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other documents filed with the SEC by Churchill IX in connection with the proposed transaction, as these documents will contain important information about Churchill IX, PlusAI and the proposed transaction. Shareholders may obtain a copy of the proxy statement statement/prospectus, as well as other documents filed by Churchill IX with the SEC, without charge, at the SEC's website located at www.sec.gov or by directing a written request to Churchill Capital Corp IX, 640 Fifth Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10019.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "plan," "project," "will," "estimate," "intend," "expect," "believe," "target," "continue," "could," "may," "might," "possible," "potential," "predict", "accelerate" or similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. We have based these forward-looking statements on current expectations and projections about future events. These statements include: expectations regarding the completion of the business combination between PlusAI and Churchill IX; estimates of customer adoption rates and usage patterns; projections regarding the value and capabilities of autonomous driving solutions; projections of development and commercialization timelines; expectations regarding PlusAI's ability to execute its business model; expectations regarding safety and system maturity of SuperDrive; PlusAI's deployment of virtual driver software; the impact of new features and capabilities on SuperDrive's performance; PlusAI's expectations concerning relationships with strategic partners, suppliers, governments, regulatory bodies and other third parties; the improvement of SuperDrive in future updates; the ability of PlusAI or its partners to improve iteration and the speed of development cycles; and the SuperDrive platform's ability to support long-term development and commercial deployment.

These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions, many of which are beyond the control of PlusAI and Churchill IX.

These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include: that PlusAI is pursuing an emerging technology, faces significant technical challenges and may not achieve commercialization or market acceptance; PlusAI's historical net losses and limited operating history; PlusAI's expectations regarding future financial performance, capital requirements and unit economics; PlusAI's use and reporting of business and operational metrics; PlusAI's competitive landscape; PlusAI's dependence on members of its senior management and its ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; the capital requirements of PlusAI's business plans and the potential need for additional future financing; PlusAI's ability to manage growth and expand its operations; potential future acquisitions or investments in companies, products, services or technologies; PlusAI's reliance on strategic partners and other third parties; PlusAI's ability to maintain, protect and defend its intellectual property rights; risks associated with privacy, data protection or cybersecurity incidents and related regulations; the use and regulation of artificial intelligence and machine learning; uncertainty or changes with respect to laws and regulations; uncertainty or changes with respect to taxes, trade conditions and the macroeconomic environment; the combined company's ability to maintain internal control over financial reporting and operate a public company; the risk that shareholders of Churchill IX could elect to have their shares redeemed, leaving the combined company with insufficient cash to execute its business plans; the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the business combination agreement; the outcome of any legal proceedings or government investigations that may be commenced against PlusAI or Churchill IX; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction; the ability of Churchill IX or the combined company to issue equity or equity-linked securities in connection with the proposed transaction or in the future; and other factors described in Churchill IX's filings with the SEC. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact such forward-looking statements can be found in filings and potential filings by PlusAI, Churchill IX or the combined company resulting from the proposed transaction with the SEC, including under the heading "Risk Factors." If any of these risks materialize or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. In addition, these statements reflect the expectations, plans and forecasts of PlusAI's and Churchill IX's management as of the date of this communication; subsequent events and developments may cause their assessments to change. While PlusAI and Churchill IX may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, they specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon these statements.

In addition, statements that "we believe" and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this press release, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.

An investment in Churchill IX is not an investment in any of its founders' or sponsors' past investments, companies or affiliated funds. The historical results of those investments are not indicative of future performance of Churchill IX, which may differ materially from the performance of its founders' or sponsors' past investments.

Participants in the Solicitation

Churchill IX, PlusAI and certain of their respective directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may, under SEC rules, be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Churchill IX's shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information regarding the persons who may, under SEC rules, be deemed participants in the solicitation of Churchill IX's shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction are set forth in proxy statement/prospectus filed by Churchill IX with the SEC on January 12, 2026. You can find more information about Churchill IX's directors and executive officers in Churchill IX's final prospectus related to its initial public offering filed with the SEC on May 1, 2024 and in the Annual Reports on Form 10-K filed by Churchill IX with the SEC. Additional information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests is included in the proxy statement/prospectus. Shareholders, potential investors and other interested persons should read the proxy statement/prospectus carefully before making any voting or investment decisions. You may obtain free copies of these documents from the sources described above.

No Offer or Solicitation

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. This press release is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, a prospectus, an advertisement or a public offering of the securities described herein in the United States or any other jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or exemptions therefrom. INVESTMENT IN ANY SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED BY THE SEC OR ANY OTHER REGULATORY AUTHORITY NOR HAS ANY AUTHORITY PASSED UPON OR ENDORSED THE MERITS OF THE OFFERING OR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.

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