MUNICH/LEINFELDEN-ECHTERDINGEN (dpa-AFX) - Daimler Truck is getting its own IT platform for its global vehicle development. The truck and bus manufacturer is thus further breaking away from its past within the Daimler Group. The new system, which will be rolled out to some 5,000 developers, will come from Siemens, the two companies announced Tuesday. The project is expected to take about two years to complete. "That's very fast for this scale," emphasized Daimler Truck Board Member Andreas Gorbach.

The departure from the old system, which has grown over decades, has also become necessary due to the spin-off from the passenger car division, as Gorbach explains. The company already uses Siemens systems for design work, and this will now be supplemented by product documentation. This "backbone of the entire value-added chain" stores the processes from design to purchasing and production to service or maintenance with data and product lists.

Accordingly, it is important that nothing goes wrong during the changeover. Gorbach compares it to "open-heart surgery." "It is rather rare for such a large company to completely change over its development environment," says Cedrik Neike, member of the Siemens Managing Board and head of the group's Digital Industries division.

At the end of 2021, the Daimler Group split up and released the commercial vehicle manufacturer into entrepreneurial independence. The automaker is now called Mercedes-Benz.

Truck board member Gorbach now sees an opportunity to introduce new trucks or buses faster and more cheaply. "Above all, we expect it to give us more speed, flexibility and docking capability with other systems," he says. "Ultimately, it's an investment toward efficiency gains." Neither company is disclosing how much Daimler Truck is willing to spend on the changeover./ruc/DP/mis