The launch of the truck with confidence Tusimple (now Createai) has sent a multitude of sensitive data-the design of an American autonomous vehicle system-to a Business owned by Beij Wall Street Journal magazine.
Transfers to the Chinese Foton truck manufacturer occurred in February 2022, just a week after Tusimple’s signing the agreement in which US regulators ordered the company to separate its businesses and technology from China -based employees and partners with protection walls and governance controls. The exchange of data continued until Tusimple’s deadline to comply with the agreement six months later, according to hundreds of correspondence pages examined by the magazine.
A subsequent survey with the US Foreign Investment Committee (CFIUS) found that the exchange of data did not technically violate the agreement, although Tusimple was imposed a fine for other violations and paid a $ 6 million settlement without admitting an error per magazine.
TechCrunch was unable to reach Tusimple, now Createai, for comments.
However, the TUSIMPLE Data Transport Epic to China exposes the limits of US guarantees intended to balance foreign investment with national security. And it’s not just data that Tusimple is trying to overcome the border.
This latest revelation comes eight months after TechCrunch said some of Tusimple’s shareholders were trying to prevent the company from transferring its US funds – about $ 450 million at that time – to the Chinese subsidiary of the company to fund the company. This drama is still unfolding as one of the co -founders of Tusimple, Xiaodi Hou, struggles in court to control his shares so that he can push for clearing the company. In December 2024, Tusimple was officially rebuilt in Createai.
The company has been involved in a dispute since it happened via IPO in 2021. Tusimple started as a start -up supported by China founded in 2015 by Hou and Lu Chen, a businessman with ties with Sina Corp. Motors.
Tusimple’s plans took a shift to the worse amidst internal struggles and federal research in the company’s links with China, leading to its decision to leave businesses and voluntarily delete from the stock market in January 2024.
The magazine’s report sheds light on a previously mentioned controversy over Hydron, a Chinese hydrogen truck starting that Chen, who shared an office with Tusimple China. The overlap between Hydron and Tusimple was the object of the 2022 CFIUS detector, during which Tusimple revealed that his employees spent hours working for Hydron in 2021 and shared confidential information with the company.
According to documents seen by the magazine, Tusimple negotiated an agreement in 2021 between Hydron and Foton on the development of autonomous trucks. Foton, a subsidiary of the BAIC state team, has an agreement with a Chinese military university to work on AV Tech.
Through a combination of emails, Slack and video calls, Tusimple sent the partners technical instructions for server dimensions, brake designs, sensors, address, feed and chips, according to the magazine. Employees are also used to downloading the source code of autonomy developed by their American counterparts.
As geopolitical tensions and competition with China are rising, Tusimple’s links serve as a warning story for Washington, which has helped to shift US policy, causing stricter rules for Chinese technological agreements and fueling a wider impulse.
