TuSimple is working on resolving US issues after management turmoil, and pushing ahead with autonomous driving tech

TuSimple Holdings, the US-China autonomous driving truck company mired in US government investigations and corporate disputes over the past few months, said it is taking a series of steps to resolve its risks in the United States.

Lu Cheng, chief executive of the San Diego, California-based company, said in a press conference on Wednesday that the company has been “isolating” its China team from the US team, and wants to resolve New York delisting risks, as the company pushes ahead with commercialisation of its technologies.

“We have had different technical routes with the US team since 2018, with different application scenarios and partners,” Lu told the South China Morning Post at the Shanghai press conference. “Because of the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) investigation last year, we had more separation and this will continue in future.”

Lu did not specify whether there will be a financial or institutional split between its US and Chinese teams in future.

CFIUS, an inter-agency panel that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments, kicked off an investigation of TuSimple with the FBI and US Securities and Exchange Commission last year, to examine whether its co-founder and then-chief executive Hou Xiaodi had made illegal funding or technology transfers to Hydron, a Chinese autonomous driving truck start-up set up by Hou in 2021.

Last July, the company’s board kicked off an internal investigation of its links to Hydron. In October, TuSimple’s board of directors fired Hou, citing a “loss in trust and confidence” in connection with the alleged sharing of confidential information with Hydron. The board then appointed Lu as the company’s new chief executive.