TuSimple’s board fires CEO Xiaodi Hou after reports the US is probing whether it improperly financed and transferred tech to a Chinese startup; stock drops 44%+ (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: US-based self-driving trucking company TuSimple faces US federal probes into whether it improperly financed and transferred tech to a Chinese startup  —  Government authorities are investigating whether the U.S. self-driving trucking company defrauded investors by financing and transferring technology to China-backed Hydron

Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal:
Filings: TuSimple co-founder Mo Chen consolidates power, acquiring 59% of the voting stock, as the US investigates the self-driving trucking company  —  Federal authorities continue to investigate entity’s relationship with a Chinese startup tied to co-founder Mo Chen

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
TuSimple confirms plans to lay off 25% of its workforce, or an estimated 350 workers, following a rough year for the self-driving trucking company  —  Update: CEO Cheng Lu said laid off workers will remain on the payroll for two months and will receive severance.  —  Well, we knew it was coming.

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple scales back ambitious self-driving plans for its electric vehicle, now delayed to 2026 with a design that includes a steering wheel and pedals  —  Apple Inc. has scaled back ambitious self-driving plans for its future electric vehicle and postponed the car’s target launch date …

Reuters:
SEC filing: Intel’s self-driving car unit Mobileye files for an IPO and reports a H1 2022 revenue of $854M, up 21% from H1 2021  —  Mobileye, Intel Corp’s (INTC.O) self-driving unit, on Friday filed for an initial public offering in the United States, revealing a 21% jump in revenue for the first half of the year.

Reuters:
GM’s Cruise says it has developed four in-house chips for self-driving cars to be deployed by 2025, including an ARM-based computing chip called Horta  —  General Motors’ (GM.N) autonomous driving unit Cruise has developed its own chips for self-driving cars to be deployed by 2025 …