Will TuSimple Have Better Luck in Japan?

In 2021, TuSimple Japan, a subsidiary of TuSimple, completed a series of safety validation and testing work of its autonomous driving system with a local Japanese OEM truck. Two years later, in January 2023, TuSimple began regular testing on the Tomei Experssway, a roadway linking Tokyo and Nagoya. It has been reported that the Japanese government is planning to launch a self-driving lane on some sections of the New Tomei Expressway by 2024 allowing commercial operation of SAE Level 4 fully autonomous trucks by 2026.

According to the statement, Japan’s freight industry faces a serious challenge of driver shortage along with an aging population. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reported in 2023 that 45.2 percent of the drivers in the country’s transportation industry were aged 50 or older. “Self-driving technology is a promising solution to the driver shortage issue that Japan’s logistics industry faces,” said Cheng Lu, President and Chief Executive Officer at TuSimple Japan.

TuSimple is developing a commercial-ready, fully autonomous (SAE Level 4) driving solution for long-haul heavy-duty trucks. In December 2021, TuSimple executed the world's first fully autonomous semi-truck run on public roads in the US state of Arizona without any human intervention. As of March 2023, TuSimple trucks have recorded more than 10 million cumulative miles through testing, research, and freight delivery.

Personal Comment:

Here in the Smart Mobility newsletter, we have highlighted many reports about the testing of autonomous vehicles from passenger cars to trucks. For example, here we discussed the world’s first road designed for autonomous trucks, located in the Chinese desert. Just a year ago we reported on the news about the end of the partnership between Navistar, a major US truck OEM, and TuSimple. In that article we argued that achieving anything above levels 2 and 3 sounded unrealistic in the near future. Now, just a year later, it seems like TuSimple might have proved us wrong with its plan on launching Level 4 autonomous trucking, albeit in Japan with a Japanese truck instead of in the US.

However, a note of caution might come from another news related to TuSimple. A little less than a month ago it came to light that the company will cut approximately 30% of workers to restructure and save money. Could the headline grabbing claim about level 4 autonomous driving in Japan is a well-timed distraction from the company’s severe financial problems and massive layoff? It seems like not the first announcement about layoff. This came after mentioning cutting 25% of workface only a few months earlier. It is too early to tell if this is a move to distract, or whether the company, facing financial difficulties, is pulling out all the stops to move forward. After all, many of the autonomy companies have been forced to trim workforces and reduce costs as the economic benefits of autonomy remain stubbornly in the future.

The Written by Kateryna Melnyk,
RISE Mobility & Systems