Harbinger, ZF Group form agreement on ADAS products. Mary is the Content Director for aftermarketNews/Counterman, and has been with Babcox Media for 37 years, serving in various editorial roles on several of the company's brands. Published: February 26, 2026 Harbinger, an American-made medium-duty electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturer, announced it has acquired autonomous driving company Phantom AI. In addition, Harbinger and ZF Group's Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) business unit for passenger cars announced a deal to license Phantom AI's computer vision for its passenger car ADAS products. The acquisition of Phantom AI and the partnership with ZF Group create a new software services revenue stream for Harbinger, the company said. Integration into medium-duty vehicles. Harbinger will incorporate Phantom AI's computer vision into its medium-duty electric and hybrid vehicles in 2026. Planned features include emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping and more. The integration responds to fleet customer demand due to the lack of such safety systems in medium-duty vehicles. "Our acquisition of Phantom AI and partnership with ZF are pivotal milestones for Harbinger as we expand beyond commercial vehicles and enter new segments for the first time," said John Harris, co-founder and CEO of Harbinger. "We are combining Phantom AI's computer vision with ZF's global reach and leadership in automotive systems to unlock an entirely new revenue stream of software services and autonomy. At the same time, we are incorporating even more advanced driver assistance and safety features into our medium-duty vehicles, which is something our large Fortune 500 customers have been asking for." Phantom AI co-founders and ZF collaboration. Phantom AI was co-founded by former Tesla ADAS engineer Hyunggi Cho and former Hyundai driver-assistance and autonomous-driving engineer Chan Kyu Lee. ZF will license Phantom AI's computer vision for its passenger car ADAS products and will work toward providing more advanced autonomous driving capabilities in the future. "Licensing Phantom AI's computer vision will help strengthen ZF's passenger car ADAS portfolio" said Christopher Ludwig, vice president of procurement for ZF's Electronics & ADAS Division. "This collaboration allows ZF to provide a broader selection of products and options at different values to our customers today while creating a path for future autonomous driving capabilities." Level 2 autonomous solutions and transaction details. As a first step, Phantom AI has built cost-effective Level 2 autonomous solutions to reduce the burden of everyday driving and make the roads safer for everyone. Phantom AI has focused on democratizing technologies such as automatic emergency braking and emergency lane support before rolling out high level autonomy. Harbinger's acquisition of Phantom AI was completed in November 2025, and Atlanticus Advisors LLC served as financial advisor to Phantom AI in this transaction. The Phantom AI team of 30 employees will continue to operate in Mountain View, California. "Thanks to this acquisition, we are able to deliver a more comprehensive, technology-forward solution that includes robust ADAS capabilities and telematics to the medium-duty vehicle segment and beyond," said Dr. Cho, co-founder and CEO, Phantom AI. "While these features are already expected in passenger vehicles, medium-duty fleets have historically been underserved."

Harbinger acquires Phantom AI, bringing advanced driver-assistance tech to medium-duty trucks. Electric truck manufacturer Harbinger is expanding into autonomous and software-driven vehicle technologies with the acquisition of autonomous driving company Phantom AI, a move the company says will accelerate the rollout of advanced safety systems in medium-duty trucks. The California-based builder of electric and hybrid medium-duty trucks announced it completed the acquisition in November 2025. Harbinger said in a release that Phantom AI's computer-vision technology will be integrated into its medium-duty vehicle lineup beginning this year, enabling advanced driver-assistance features such as automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping support. The deal was accompanied by announcement of a separate agreement involving automotive supplier ZF Group, which will license Phantom AI's computer-vision software for use in its passenger-car advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). The arrangement creates a new software-services revenue stream for Harbinger while extending Phantom AI technology into global automotive applications, the company said. "Our acquisition of Phantom AI and partnership with ZF are pivotal milestones for Harbinger as we expand beyond commercial vehicles and enter new segments for the first time," said John Harris, co-founder and CEO of Harbinger. "At the same time, we are incorporating even more advanced driver assistance and safety features into our medium-duty vehicles, which is something our large Fortune 500 customers have been asking for." The Phantom AI team of about 30 employees will continue operating from Mountain View, Calif. trucknews.com is the trucking industry's leading information source, delivering vital insights to fleet executives, operations teams, maintenance personnel, owner-operators, and more. Readers turn to our experienced journalists for award-winning trucking industry news, trends, technical advances, equipment maintenance techniques, and business practices alike. Have your say This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today's Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.