Why is TuSimple delisting high-end autonomous driving difficult to commercialize?
[ad_1]
TuSimple (TSP), known as the “first self-driving stock”, has been delisted from Nasdaq in the United States. This is the world’s first autonomous driving company to voluntarily delist. From its success in landing on the Nasdaq to its successive setbacks and withdrawals, TuSimple’s experience reflects the current dilemma of how difficult it is to commercialize high-end autonomous driving.
According to public information, TuSimple was founded in 2015 and is an artificial intelligence company focused on developing high-end autonomous driving system solutions for large freight trucks. In 2017, the company obtained a road test license in California, USA, completed long-distance road tests, and became the “first to start” in the field of L4 autonomous trucks. In 2021, TuSimple was listed in the United States, with the price per share once as high as US$79.84. Its investors include CDH Investments, Sina Capital, Volkswagen Group, Nvidia and other well-known venture capital and industry giants. Unfortunately, TuSimple ultimately failed to withstand the test of the capital market.
TuSimple’s delisting is not without warning. Due to long-term losses and the inability to submit financial reports on time, the stock price has been below $1 all year round. Last year, the Nasdaq Exchange issued multiple delisting notices to TuSimple. At the same time, global autonomous driving companies have experienced a wave of bankruptcies or layoffs, which has also accelerated TuSimple’s delisting process. In recent years, Ford Motor and Volkswagen Group have shut down their self-driving startup Argo AI, Google-owned Waymo has conducted multiple rounds of layoffs, and Embark, an American self-driving truck company comparable to TuSimple, has collapsed. The commercialization of high-end autonomous driving is far away, which not only puts business operations in trouble, but also makes the capital market lose patience.
According to the internationally recognized SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) autonomous driving classification standards, autonomous driving is divided into levels L0 to L5. Among them, L1 and L2 are assisted driving; L3 is conditional autonomous driving and is also an important watershed between human and machine roles; L4 and L5 are high-level autonomous driving. At present, L5 level fully autonomous driving technology is still very immature, and few real products have been launched. As for L3-level conditional autonomous driving and L4-level highly automated driving technologies, products are currently available and are effective and safe in most cases. However, in special and extreme situations, the safety has not yet been fully certified. Therefore, the application is only conditionally approved.
Without safety protection, it will be difficult to promote high-end autonomous driving on a large scale. If there is even one safety accident in autonomous driving, the public will be emotionally concerned and even doubtful about its safety. Cruise, a self-driving company owned by General Motors in the United States, experienced a series of changes such as the revocation of its driverless road license and driverless taxi operating license, as well as layoffs, recalls, CEO resignation, etc. This was caused by the continuous fermentation of an autonomous driving accident last year. . Public opinion suggests that the whole idea of taking control away from the driver remains unpopular with consumers.
Although many automobile companies have claimed that their products and technologies have achieved high-level autonomous driving, it is difficult for them to stand the test of the market. The argument of high emotional intelligence is just to create a more technological corporate image; while the argument of low emotional intelligence is that the car can be sold more expensively. Currently, whether it is a pure vision solution or a “vision + lidar” solution, as well as other technical routes, high-end autonomous driving is still limited by scenarios, and the overall stability and reliability are far from enough. For example, last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk almost had an accident when he publicly tested FSD Beta V12 on the streets of Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, USA.
High-end autonomous driving can only be commercialized if it is used on a large scale. If any technology wants to be commercialized, it needs to be combined with the real needs of the market. Currently, many autonomous driving companies with L4-level solutions as their core solutions have begun to actively downgrade and turn to helping companies develop L2-level and L3-level solutions. This may be a more pragmatic move. After all, the steps must be climbed step by step, and the ridges must be stepped one by one, so that the road under your feet will be more solid. If the breakthrough of autonomous driving were compared to the process of climbing Mount Everest, we would probably still be halfway up the mountain. The high expectations of autonomous driving and the underestimated complexity will test not only the courage and wisdom of car companies, but also the patience and perseverance of car companies.
[ad_2]
Source link