LOS ANGELES — Mo Chen, co-Founder of San Diego-based autonomous driving company TuSimple, has started a new company, Hydron, which aims to develop, manufacture and sell hydrogen-powered trucks equipped with autonomous driving technology.
Chen, a Canadian entrepreneur, co-founded self-driving technology company TuSimple with business partner Xiaodi Hou in 2015.
UPS invested in TuSimple before it went public through a traditional IPO raising $1.3 billion in total funding, according to a news release.
In December of 2021, TuSimple operated long-haul heavy-duty trucks autonomously on open public roads without a human in the vehicle and without remote intervention.
“The path to commercializing autonomous vehicles requires the complex integration of both hardware and software,” Chen said. “The biggest challenge in bringing autonomous driving to the market at scale is not software development, but access to reliable mass production hardware, and now with Hydron, we will be able to provide automotive-grade hardware specifically for autonomous networks.”
Hydron plans to collaborate with partners to build a manufacturing facility in North America “to better meet the U.S. supply chain challenges,” according to the news release.
The first generation of Hydron trucks is expected to enter mass production in Q3 of 2024, with a complete set of sensors, computing units and redundant actuators to meet L4 autonomous driving requirements.
Hydron is a privately held independent company and is not affiliated with TuSimple.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
