Self-driving truck startup TuSimple rebrands as CreateAI, shifts to gaming tech

BEIJING (Reuters) – TuSimple Holdings said on Thursday it would rebrand as CreateAI and pivot from autonomous trucking to AI gaming technology, marking an attempt by the once-prominent self-driving truck startup to make a comeback.

CEO Cheng Lu told Reuters in an interview that the move into gaming and animation technology represented a natural evolution of the company’s capabilities, though the transition comes after two years of setbacks and regulatory challenges.

Founded in 2015, TuSimple attracted investments from Chinese internet giant Sina (BitStamp:SINA) Corp and global heavyweights such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) and UPS. But the self-driving truck developer’s fortunes reversed in 2022 when U.S. regulators began probing its Chinese connections, triggering boardroom disputes.

Early this year, the company said it had decided to delist from Nasdaq, fewer than three years after raising $1.35 billion in an April 2021 initial public offering.

Lu said management had in March proposed the AI gaming pivot to the board, which approved the strategic shift. The company cited third-party reports valuing the global gaming market at $200 billion in 2023, according to a business plan document sent to Reuters.

The rebranded CreateAI will focus on video game and anime production and publishing, leveraging its newly developed image-to-video AI model, Ruyi, for content development, the business plan document shows.

The company has 270 employees globally, including research and content production teams across China, Japan and the United States.