Self-driving truck startup TuSimple raises $95 million for Series D round

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Self-driving truck startup TuSimple announced on February 13 that it has closed a Series D round financing with $95 million raised led by Chinese Internet giant Sina Corp, which values the company at over $1 billion.

The latest funding was completed in last December. From the time being, the company has raised up to $178 million in total.

The fresh capital will be used to scale up TuSimple's commercialized operation of self-driving fleet in China and the U.S.. The startup said at the 2019 CES that it plans to increase the truck number of the fleet deployed in the U.S. to 50 units from 11 units in the first half of 2019 to satisfy consumers' ever-growing demands on cargo delivery, which will then make the company the world's largest autonomous trucking solution provider. In addition, a new route stretching from Arizona to Texas will be put into operation in early 2019.

In China, the company has been conducting trial operation of self-driving truck fleet for over 300 days at a deepwater port in a Northern city of China. Moreover, at Shanghai Lingang Area, it has already started a demonstrable operation for autonomous driving.

Additionally, the new funds will also be utilized to build a cooperative system about R&D and production among TuSimple, complete vehicle makers, Tier 1 auto parts suppliers and sensor manufacturers in order to promote a substantial implementation of autonomous driving commercialization.