American Truck Simulator: 1.60 Update Open Beta

We’re excited to share that the 1.60 Open Beta for American Truck Simulator is now available for players to try out. If you decide to join the beta, we’d really appreciate it if you report any bugs or issues you encounter in the appropriate section of our official forums.

Your feedback plays a huge role in helping us improve the game, and we truly value the time and effort you put into testing these new features and changes. Now, let’s dive into what you can expect in the 1.60 Open Beta update:

Game Radio

With Update 1.60, we are introducing Game Radio, a brand-new in-game radio system designed to make every drive feel more immersive and authentic. Rather than just playing music, Game Radio gives you five stations with their own distinct sounds, identities, and moods, each one built to shape the atmosphere of your journey in a different way.

At launch, players can tune into Rust FM, Escape, PUMP IT!, Pop Gear, and Roadio, spanning guitar-driven rock and American roots music to electronic, pop, and lo-fi. Each station features carefully curated tracks, handpicked to hold up across many hours on the road. Escape is also the only stream-safe station at launch, designed to help content creators avoid copyright claims.

Game Radio also introduces a new in-game widget displaying station info, track titles, and artist names while driving. Players can customize widget behavior through the Widget Options menu (F6). This update also brings a range of improvements to the existing radio and music player systems.

Game Radio arrives with its musical foundation in place, with more planned for future updates. You can find out more information about Game Radio in our dedicated blog post.

Improved Material System

The Improved Material System significantly improves the lighting and visual quality of vehicle interiors in selected trucks. Its main focus is to enhance how interior materials react to light, which will result in a more readable, detailed, and visually pleasing cabin environment.

During the development of Project Road Trip, we implemented a wide range of visual and technical improvements. One of the most significant changes was a redesign of the materials used in vehicle interiors. As a result, it makes differences between materials such as leather, fabric, plastic, and metal far more apparent, even in low-light conditions. The new solution uses multiple variants of dynamic cubemaps, allowing all materials to reflect their surroundings more naturally and respond to ambient light in a more realistic way.

The entire system was designed from the start with the interiors of trucks in both games in mind, so the base games and their existing fleets will gradually benefit from these improvements as well. The first trucks to benefit from the Improved Material System in ATS will be the Mack Anthem and the Western Star 49X. With future updates, we will gradually add this technology for other trucks across both games. You can read more about this feature here.

Light Tweaks

We have carried out minor adjustments to the global lighting, primarily focused on exposure and contrast balancing, along with subtle visual refinements for bad weather conditions. The work mainly consisted of smoothing out and polishing the overall visuals to achieve a more consistent and refined look.

Players' Company Paint Jobs

After over a year of development as a passion project for the ATS community, players are now able to customize their trucks and trailers with a brand-new collection of company-themed paint jobs inspired by the selectable company identities available when creating a driver profile. These designs bring a more cohesive and professional visual style to your fleet while fitting naturally into the world of ATS.

One of the biggest focuses during development was ensuring that every paint job feels unique, depending on the type of trailer it is applied to. Rather than simply using one design across all trailer models, our teams carefully adapted each company's paint scheme to match the shapes and details of different trailer types. Whether you’re hauling cargo with a tanker, transporting materials in a dumper, or pulling a traditional box trailer, each variant features its own tailored details and layout. You can find out more in our blog here.

Job Details Widget

Based on feedback from our #BestCommunityEver and upcoming widget designs, the Job Details Widget will be introduced with the 1.60 update. Its primary purpose will be to enable a new, more immediate, and concise way of displaying the relevant job info. Also, in response to community feedback, the GPS will now display the estimated arrival day and time, along with the remaining travel time and distance.

Once added, you'll be able to enable the Job Details Widget through the Widget Options menu (F6). The widget will display key job information, including cargo type and weight, delivery location, job income (colour-highlighted), and the remaining time to complete the job, so players will have this info available immediately without the necessity to pause the game. You can read more about the feature here.

Expanded Rest Mechanic

This new feature gives players greater control over their rest periods by allowing them to choose how long they want to sleep and exactly when they want to wake up, instead of being limited to a predefined rest duration.

Alongside this change, the Fatigue system will now be split into two separate values: Rest State and Mandatory Break, each represented by its own icon in the UI.

The Rest State, symbolised by a bed icon, will now gradually deplete rather than recover over time. Extended periods of driving will steadily reduce the Rest State, while resting will restore it at a faster rate.

The Mandatory Break system, indicated by a "P" icon along with the remaining hours before a required stop, will function more strictly. In American Truck Simulator, drivers can stay on the road for up to 14 hours before they must take a mandatory break, requiring 10 consecutive hours of rest afterward. You can read more about this feature here.

Changelog:

Vehicles

• Players' Company Paint Jobs

Visual

• Improved Material System
• Light Tweaks

Sound

• Game Radio

UI/UX

• Job Details Widget
• Expanded Rest Mechanic

Enjoy all the new additions, but please remember: It's only an open beta, not a stable public version, so you may encounter bugs, instability, or crashes. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the final release. But if you're interested in helping us to get there faster, we'd appreciate all of your feedback on our forum and your bug reports in the dedicated section.

Please check our modding wiki to get details pertaining to mods for the game.

If you wish to participate in this Open Beta, you can find this version in the Experimental Beta branch on Steam. The way to access it is as follows: Steam client → LIBRARY → right-click on American Truck Simulator → Properties → Betas tab → Beta Participation drop-down menu → public_beta. No password is required. Sometimes you will have to restart your Steam client to see the correct branch name there.

ATS 1.60: Players' Company Paint Jobs

Today, we’re excited to share more details about a feature coming to American Truck Simulator in Update 1.60 - Players’ Company Paint Jobs!

For quite some time, our teams have wanted to expand and improve the way players can represent their in-game trucking companies. After over a year of development as a passion project created especially for the ATS community, we’re happy to finally reveal the results.

With Update 1.60, players will be able to customize their trucks and trailers with a brand-new collection of company-themed paint jobs inspired by the selectable company identities available when creating a driver profile. These designs bring a more cohesive and professional visual style to your fleet while still fitting naturally into the world of American Truck Simulator.

One of the biggest focuses during development was ensuring that every paint job feels unique, depending on the type of trailer it is applied to. Rather than simply stretching one design across all trailer models, our teams carefully adapted each company's paint scheme to match the specific shapes and details of different trailer types.

Whether you’re hauling cargo with a tanker, transporting material in a dumper, or pulling a traditional box trailer, each variant features its own tailored details and layout. Our designers paid close attention to every surface, curve, and accessory to make sure the final result feels authentic and visually balanced across the entire fleet.

Players familiar with the feature in Euro Truck Simulator 2 will also feel right at home with the customization options included in ATS. Every company paint job comes with four pre-made color presets, giving players multiple styles to choose from right away while maintaining a consistent company identity.

We can’t wait for you to hit the road with your newly branded fleet when Update 1.60 arrives for American Truck Simulator. Whether you’re starting a brand-new company or giving your current operation a fresh identity, we hope these new paint jobs help make your journeys feel even more personal.

Until then, be sure to stay connected with us on our social media channels on X/Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, YouTube, and Instagram, and by subscribing to our newsletter so you don’t miss any future updates! Stay safe and happy truckin'!

1.60 Update: Expanded Rest Mechanic

Today, we are happy to give you a glimpse at the upcoming 1.60 update for both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator with the Expanded Rest Mechanic feature, which will change how the fatigue system in our games works, so let's take a look!

We are implementing the Expanded Rest Mechanic into our games after a lot of requests from our #BestCommunityEver for this feature. This new feature gives players greater control over their rest periods by allowing them to choose how long they want to sleep and exactly when they want to wake up, instead of being limited to a predefined rest duration.

Alongside this change, the Fatigue system will now be split into two separate values: Rest State and Mandatory Break, each represented by its own icon in the UI.

The Rest State, symbolised by a bed icon, will now gradually deplete rather than recover over time. Extended periods of driving will steadily reduce the Rest State, while resting will restore it at a faster rate. Players will receive a warning notification when their Rest State becomes critically low, and microsleep events will begin occurring once it reaches exhaustion.

The Mandatory Break system, indicated by a "P" icon along with the remaining hours before a required stop, will function more strictly. Players will receive a notification two hours before a mandatory break is required, as well as another warning if they exceed the allowed driving time, which will also result in a traffic violation penalty.

In American Truck Simulator, drivers can stay on the road for up to 14 hours before they must take a mandatory break, requiring 10 consecutive hours of rest afterward. In Euro Truck Simulator 2, drivers may drive for up to 10 hours before taking a mandatory break, which requires 9 consecutive hours of rest.

We believe these additions coming to our games with the future 1.60 update will provide players with greater flexibility and customization while also enhancing realism. However, both systems can be enabled or disabled independently in the settings, allowing you to tailor the experience to your own preference.

Don't forget to stay tuned for more news from the upcoming 1.60 update by following us on our X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube. We would also really appreciate it if you could sign up for our newsletter. Until next time, safe travels!

American Truck Simulator: Where Next?

It has been a few days since the last DLC was released, so it is time for us to begin looking ahead in American Truck Simulator. While today is not quite the official reveal, we do have a small teaser from a brand-new destination currently in development for ATS, and we think some of you may already be able to guess where our journey will lead next.

Development on this project is still in its early stages, so we are not ready to share all the details just yet, including any release timeline. However, we couldn’t resist giving the #BestCommunityEver a tiny glimpse of what our teams have been working on behind the scenes.

From iconic roadside landmarks to stretches of highway surrounded by lush countryside, this upcoming map expansion will offer truckers a brand-new region of the United States to explore, haul through, and discover. Whether you enjoy cruising through bustling urban areas, navigating industrial hubs, or taking in scenic rural drives, there will be plenty waiting for you down the road.

Still unsure? Don’t worry, we have a screenshot for you to examine closely. We know our community is filled with expert detectives, and we are excited to see your guesses rolling in across the comments and social media.

As development continues, our map, asset, and research teams are hard at work recreating the atmosphere, industries, road networks, and landmarks that make this part of the United States unique. There is still a road ahead before we are ready to fully unveil this DLC, but we are already looking forward to sharing more about this journey soon.

We cannot wait to show you more when the time is right. Until then, stay up to date with the latest news, don’t forget to follow our blog, subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on X/Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Instagram. Until next time, keep on truckin’! 

1.60 Update: Improved Material System

In today's blog, we bring you another piece of the puzzle from the upcoming 1.60 update for both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator, which we hope will get our #BestCommunityEver very excited. In this update, we will be introducing the Improved Material System for the interior of selected trucks! Let's take a look.

The Improved Material System, which will be introduced in the 1.60 update for both games, significantly improves the lighting and visual quality of vehicle interiors in selected trucks. Its main focus is to enhance how interior materials react to light, which will result in a more readable, detailed, and visually pleasing cabin environment.

During the development of Project Road Trip, we implemented a wide range of visual and technical improvements. One of the most significant changes was a redesign of the materials used in vehicle interiors. 

This has been requested from our community for some time, as the previous system often made interiors appear too dark and flat, especially in scenes without direct lighting. As a result, it makes differences between materials such as leather, fabric, plastic, and metal far more apparent, even in low-light conditions.

"The main goal of the new technology was to bring more light into shadowed areas of vehicle interiors. The previous system struggled to handle indirect lighting in these situations, causing many details to be lost in darkness. The new solution uses multiple variants of dynamic cubemaps, allowing all materials to reflect their surroundings more naturally and respond to ambient light in a more realistic way. Environmental reflections are no longer limited to highly polished metallic surfaces. This change gives interiors significantly greater depth and readability," says our Vehicle Technical Leader, Daniel.

We have also carried out minor adjustments to the global lighting, primarily focused on exposure and contrast balancing, along with subtle visual refinements for bad weather conditions to achieve a more consistent and refined look. 

The development of this system took place in parallel with Project Road Trip, where its importance became even more apparent. Smaller, darker passenger vehicle interiors suffered from a lack of indirect light more than trucks with bright cabs and large windows, which often allow direct light to enter. Road Trip thus served as the ideal environment for developing and fine-tuning these technologies.

The entire system was designed from the start with the interiors of trucks in both games in mind, so the base games and their existing fleets will gradually benefit from these improvements as well. Throughout the entire process, we kept players with lower-end hardware in mind. We aimed to make the visual improvements as impactful as possible while minimizing the performance cost.

The first trucks to benefit from the Improved Material System will be the DAF NGD and MAN TG3 TGX models in ETS2. In ATS, players will see redesigned interiors for the Mack Anthem and the Western Star 49X. With future updates, we will gradually add this technology for other trucks across both games.

We hope this new feature has you looking forward to the 1.60 update even more, as it brings a major enhancement to these truck interiors and makes the view from the driver's seat better than ever! Please note that the Road Trip vehicles are not releasing with the 1.60 update.

Until next time, be sure to follow us on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube for all the latest updates. Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter as well! See you out on the road, and keep on truckin'!