DLA Piper advises Daimler Truck on joint venture with Volvo Group for digital transformation

DLA Piper has advised Daimler Truck on a joint venture with Volvo Group to develop a common software-defined vehicle platform and dedicated truck operating system, providing the basis for future software-defined commercial vehicles.

In May this year, Daimler Truck and Volvo Group already signed a preliminary non-binding agreement, on which DLA Piper advised. The two leading companies in the commercial vehicle industry have now signed a binding agreement to establish the joint venture and are working towards setting up the company that will be headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. The software-defined vehicle platform will enable Daimler Truck and Volvo Group and potential other future customers of the joint venture to provide stand-alone digital vehicle functions for their products.

The joint venture’s activities will include the specification and procurement of centralized high-performance control units dedicated for commercial vehicles and capable of handling large amounts of data. The new company will develop an operating system and tools which vehicle manufacturers can use as a basis to develop their own differentiating digital vehicle features. This will decouple software and hardware development cycles in the future and enable customers to purchase and update digital applications wirelessly ‘over the air’, ultimately enhancing customer efficiency and experience.

Daimler Truck and Volvo Group will remain competitors and continue to differentiate their complete product and services offerings, including their respective digital solutions. The transaction for the joint venture is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025, subject to obtaining all required regulatory approvals.

The DLA Piper team was co-led by Corporate/M&A partners Dr Tim Arndt (New York) and Dr Benjamin Parameswaran (Hamburg) with counsel Sophie von Mandelsloh and associate Lea Reifers (both Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) in the core team.

Partners Dr Burkhard Führmeyer (IP, Frankfurt), Sylvia Ebersberger (Commercial, Munich), Dr Justus Herrlinger (Antitrust, Hamburg), counsel Eike Bodo Matthes, senior associates Marisa Machacek (both IP, Frankfurt), Louisa Arlette Maier-Witt (Antitrust, Hamburg) and associate Philipp Lutz (Commercial, Munich) as well as from Sweden the partners Mathias Berggren (Corporate/M&A), Johan Zetterström (Employment), senior associate Mikael Hagström (Corporate/M&A) and associate Ida Hedlund (Employment; all Stockholm) and from the Netherlands partner Richard Fens and Legal Director Jacklynn Everduim (both Corporate/M&A, Amsterdam) were also involved.

The Daimler Truck legal team was led by Oliver Haakshorst (Legal M&A Cooperations) and also comprised Keshia-Sue Körper (Legal M&A Cooperations) and Thomas Scherzler (IP). The in-house M&A team for this transaction was led by Heiko Zimmermann (M&A).