Company: CCIXW
Filing Date: 2025-12-05
Form Type: S-4/A
Source: 0001193125-25-309933
Chunk: 459

Company: Churchill Capital Corp IX/Cayman
Filing Date: 2025-12-05
Form: S-4/A
Chunk 459
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i services or goods movement). L4 autonomous driving is a major technological advancement in commercial trucking, enabling fully driverless operation within a defined ODD. This capability addresses the industry’s most pressing pain points—driver shortages, underutilized assets, safety risks, and fuel inefficiencies.

Many freight routes in the United States and Europe are ideal use cases for autonomous solutions given their repetitive use of the same highway corridors. Currently, California is the only state that prohibits the testing or deployment of L4 autonomous vehicles over a gross weight of 10,001 pounds. Twenty-five states have enacted legislation explicitly permitting deployment of L4 driverless trucks. Five states (Hawaii, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont) permit L4 testing but require a safety driver to be present in the vehicle during operation. The remaining states implicitly permit L4 testing (meaning states where applicable state motor-vehicle codes and autonomous vehicle-related policies do not prohibit driver-out operation and are interpreted as allowing regulators to approve such deployments on a case-by-case basis, for example through pilot programs or special permits). We believe that a scalable autonomous system optimized for highway driving can address a significant portion of the total addressable market.

By removing human‑driver limitations and enabling trucks to operate safely, reliably, and around the clock, autonomous driving can transform fleet economics and freight capacity:

Lower Operating Costs . L4 autonomy can reduce average operating costs by over 40% (approximately $0.97 per mile), largely by eliminating labor costs and improving efficiency.

Improved Profitability . Fleet‑level profitability could increase 4.5x, from approximately $18,000 annually per human‑driven truck to over $84,000 for a driverless truck, driven by lower costs per mile and higher daily utilization.

Increased Freight Capacity . Autonomous trucks are not subject to hours‑of‑service limitations, enabling extended operating hours and higher daily mileage per vehicle.

Enhanced Safety . Autonomous driving can materially reduce the frequency and severity of roadway incidents by mitigating human‑related risk factors such as fatigue, distraction, and impaired driving.

Environmental Benefits . Optimized driving behavior, consistent speeds, and better route planning to reduce idling and congestion-related inefficiencies to improve fuel efficiency, reducing costs and emissions.

The cost structure of the heavy-duty trucking industry continues to face upward pressure, driven primarily by increases in labor and fuel expenses. In 2024, the average cost per mile for U.S. heavy trucking operations reached approximately $2.27, with labor and fuel representing the largest components