Amazon In Talks To Acquire TuSimple

The U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon is negotiating with TuSimple, a Chinese self-driving truck company, about acquisition details, people familiar with the matter told Tmtpost.

The self-driving truck startup has raised $95 million in a Series D funding round led by Sina Corp and prepares to expand its commercial autonomous fleet to more than 50 trucks by June.

(Source: tusimple)

Chen Mo, CEO of TuSimple, told Tmtpost that the company is about to start another round of fundraising in North America and is negotiating with several potential investors. The talks are still in their infancy, but according to Chen, selling the company is not an option.

Chen Mo, CEO of TuSimple
Chen Mo, CEO of TuSimple (Source: leiphone)

These negotiations are part of Amazon’s efforts to get into the autonomous driving industry. The company took part in Aurora’s $530 million Series B funding round led by VC firm Sequoia Capital in February. On top of that, it led electric truck start-up Rivian’s $700 million investment round that same month.