SAN DIEGO, Calif., Nov. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TuSimple, an autonomous trucking company, today announced it has raised $55 million in a Series C funding round led by Composite Capital with participation from existing investors Sina and ZP Capital. TuSimple's previous investors include artificial intelligence computing giant NVIDIA.
This month, TuSimple successfully demonstrated its SAE Level 4 self-driving system in Shanghai, China; and the company is ramping up deployment efforts in the US, starting in Tucson, Arizona. The completion of an SAE Level 4 test means the entire demonstration was handled by the system, without any human intervention.
TuSimple's full-stack solution brings together technology for perception, localization, mapping, motion planning, control and actuation for use in autonomous trucking. The company combines data from cameras and radars through advanced sensor fusion to detect and track objects at distances over 200 meters. TuSimple's localization technology achieves consistent decimeter-level precision, even in challenging environments such as tunnels. Meanwhile, its decision-making system dynamically adapts to road conditions, changing lanes and adjusting driving speeds to maximize safety and efficiency.
TuSimple focuses on line-haul trucking, transporting cargo between ports, plants, warehouses, and distribution centers. The company plans to utilize its technology to address the challenges of road safety and driver shortages that the industry faces today, while helping to reduce carbon emissions through more optimized driving.
The latest round of funding will enable TuSimple to scale testing to two full truck fleets, one in China and one in the U.S. This includes building out a production engineering team in Tucson, Arizona. TuSimple will also use the funding to further its commitment to research and development in San Diego and Beijing.
"Human error and driver fatigue account for a large portion of truck accidents. TuSimple is proud that our research and development efforts can help bring innovation to the trucking market and make the roads safer for everyone," said Mo Chen, CEO of TuSimple. "We are thrilled to partner with our investors to help make freight movement safer, smarter and cleaner."
About TuSimple
Founded in 2015, TuSimple is an artificial intelligence company working to create the first commercially deployable autonomous trucking platform with Level 4 (SAE) standards of safety.
With research centers in San Diego and Beijing, TuSimple's goals are safer roads, cleaner air and improved trucking efficiency to meet growing consumer demand. In September 2016, TuSimple broke 10 world records in autonomous driving and was ranked No. 1 in KITTI and Cityscapes. In July 2017, TuSimple successfully completed a 170 mile public road test from San Diego, California to Yuma, Arizona using its Level 4 system. The company's L4 autonomous truck started testing on public roads in China in September 2017 and has already accumulated over fifteen thousand autonomous miles. TuSimple is scheduled to begin testing its L4 truck platform in Arizona by the end of 2017.
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