Hannover, Germany, September 14, 2026—During IAA Transportation 2026, DeepWay unveiled its embodied intelligence strategy and Truck Brain technology roadmap for heavy commercial transport, and announced updates on its European business, future electrification technology, and latest cooperation with the DHL Group.
DeepWay’s European production model, the eTopas 600, has completed its first customer deliveries and is now in daily operation at customer sites in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic, with ongoing deliveries continuing. Through localized production with Steyr Automotive in Austria, DeepWay has become the first Chinese truck maker to achieve localized production of new energy heavy trucks in Europe and to enter customer operations across multiple countries.
From Driving Automation to Transport-Task Intelligence
End-to-end autonomous driving systems translate perception results into immediate actions such as steering, braking and lane changes. DeepWay’s Truck Brain builds on this by adding task-level reasoning under uncertain conditions: it uses world models to understand anomalies, predict environmental changes, and provide goals and strategies to the real-time driving system, helping the system evaluate different options in long-tail scenarios. Vehicle dynamic control remains the responsibility of the real-time driving system, while high-level decisions are executed only after verification by a coordination and safety layer. Given that commercial vehicles cannot rely on continuous cloud connectivity, DeepWay plans to deploy Truck Brain’s core capabilities on the vehicle itself. The first engineering goal is an optimized, compressed 7-billion-parameter dedicated model, adapted to a next-generation on-board computing platform of approximately 1,000 TOPS. Parameter size is not the sole determinant of capability; model performance also depends on vehicle knowledge, operating data and real transport experience. DeepWay plans a three-stage roadmap: first, on-board AI agents to enhance L2+ driving assistance; then, within defined operating conditions and design domains, advancing Truck Brain-enhanced L4; and in the long term, extending intelligent capability from vehicle driving to energy, routing and logistics processes, gradually forming a full-task freight robot. DeepWay plans to launch L2+ highway navigation-assisted driving—including active lane changes, in-lane collision avoidance and ramp guidance—first in 2027. All such features are subject to technical validation, type certification and local regulations.
Joining Hands with DHL Again to Explore Real-World Truck Embodied Intelligence
At its IAA Transportation 2026 press conference, DeepWay and the DHL Group signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly explore potential cooperation areas related to truck autonomous driving and embodied intelligence. The two sides said they will study how to combine real logistics workflows, requirement testing and operating data to evaluate intelligent and automated battery-electric trucks in close-to-real-world scenarios, and to inform future technology development needs.
Dr. Antje Huber, Head of Strategy, Marketing and Office at DHL Freight, said: “In the future, autonomous driving has the potential to make road freight safer, more efficient and more sustainable. DHL Freight has already tested autonomous vehicles in controlled environments for its own depot logistics. However, the regulatory framework required to deploy such technology on German public roads still needs further clarification. The first DeepWay truck produced in Europe has already entered DHL Freight operations. Through this memorandum of understanding, we will further expand our cooperation with DeepWay in autonomous driving, jointly exploring the opportunities this technology can bring to road freight in the future.” The two sides are now in detailed discussions on specific projects, implementation locations, vehicles and timelines. Liu Chao, Founder and CEO of DeepWay, said: “Achieving truck autonomous driving is the first step; true task intelligence must be learned from real transport operations. We will work with DHL to explore the application scenarios and development requirements for Truck Brain as the core technology of fully autonomous trucks and intelligent transport tasks, and assess the quantifiable value it can create.”
Local Production in Europe and Daily Operations Across Multiple Countries
The eTopas 600 has obtained EU Whole Vehicle Type Approval and is produced in Austria with Steyr Automotive. It is equipped with a 621 kWh battery, offering a maximum range of approximately 560 km; under representative operating conditions, energy consumption is approximately 0.94 kWh/km. The vehicle supports dual-gun CCS charging, with a combined maximum charging power of approximately 660 kW under suitable conditions, and its architecture is ready for future megawatt-level charging systems. Real-world performance depends on vehicle configuration, load, route and operating conditions. With daily operations and follow-up deliveries advancing in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic, DeepWay is expanding its European service, diagnostics, spare parts and software support network with Alltrucks and other partners. The company plans to deliver approximately 100 trucks by the end of 2026 and 1,000 trucks cumulatively to European customers by the end of 2027. “The eTopas 600 proves that DeepWay’s technology system can move from engineering concept into European series production and real customer operations,” said Dr. Michael Ruf, President of DeepWay Europe. “For transport operators, the key is not how many technologies a heavy truck uses, but whether the entire system delivers usable range, higher energy and charging efficiency, reliable operating performance and sustainable commercial returns.”
Core Technologies for Next-Generation Products
DeepWay also showcased its next-generation EverDrive e-axle and high-voltage domain controller for future product cycles. The EverDrive e-axle delivers 43,000 Nm of continuous torque and 500 kW of continuous power, integrating an intelligent four-speed reducer, active lubrication and full-coverage oil cooling; compared with the previous generation, it is 130 kg lighter and 15% smaller in volume. The new-generation high-voltage domain controller integrates power electronics, energy distribution and control functions, reducing system weight by over 50 kg and occupying roughly one-third less space. Both technologies are planned for introduction in next-generation products.
DeepWay’s Unique Native Architecture for Embodied Intelligence
DeepWay sums up its technology path as Born Electric, Born Intelligent and Born Global: from the outset of product definition, it systematically integrates electric energy architecture, software, data and intelligent capabilities, combining technology development with German engineering expertise, European local manufacturing and service systems. This unique native architecture allows DeepWay to co-develop the truck’s “body” and “brain” at the whole-vehicle level: on one hand, through electric drive, high-voltage systems, energy management, steer-by-wire chassis and vehicle control, it establishes the physical foundation for embodied intelligence—perceivable and executable; on the other hand, through Truck Brain, the real-time driving system and the coordination and safety layer, it translates vehicle knowledge, environmental understanding and transport-task reasoning into safe, verifiable vehicle actions.
Today, building on the eTopas 600’s localized production in Europe, continuous deliveries and multi-country daily operations, DeepWay is accumulating real vehicle data, logistics scenarios and transport experience, and feeding them back into product and intelligent system development. This capability—spanning whole-vehicle architecture, on-board intelligence, real operations and a closed data loop—is the key to how DeepWay defines and develops truck embodied intelligence for the future, and is its core advantage over either a standalone vehicle manufacturer or a pure autonomous driving technology company. Guided by this architecture, DeepWay will advance heavy-truck intelligence from driving automation toward understanding, decision-making and autonomous execution of transport tasks, establishing a sustainably evolving technology foundation for next-generation embodied-intelligence road freight.
