TuSimple Announces Restructuring, 25% of Workforce Laid off

TuSimple, an autonomous driving technology company, has announced a restructuring plan that involves a 25 percent reduction of its total workforce. The company will focus on investments the validation and commercialisation of TuSimple's autonomous trucking technology.

80 percent of the remaining staff are in research and development, and many of these are engineers critical to hardware and software resilience, reliability, safety, and information security.

TuSimple plans to actively work with key shipping partners to operationalise its autonomous technology.

In an effort to help ensure capital efficiency, the company also plans to scale back freight expansion, including unprofitable freight lanes and respective trucking operations.

The majority of the restructuring is in the company's US operations.

It will continue its plan to explore strategic alternatives for its Asia business, including a divestiture.

Returning to lead TuSimple in November, 2022, CEO Cheng Lu made the commitment to set the company on the path towards stability and long-term success.

Lu, TuSimple President and CEO, says: "I returned to TuSimple as CEO to help address a number of challenges and set the Company up for long-term success. This required evaluating our entire workforce and making tough decisions. It's no secret that the current economic environment is difficult. We must be prudent with our capital and operate as efficiently as possible. While I deeply regret the impact this has on those affected, I believe it is a necessary step as TuSimple continues down our path to  commercialization. This is part of our overall strategy to prioritize investments that bring the most value to shareholders, and position TuSimple as a customer-focused, product-driven organization." 

Founded in 2015, TuSimple is developing a commercial-ready, fully autonomous (SAE Level 4) driving solution for long-haul heavy-duty trucks.