A self-driving trucking start-up unraveled amid boardroom battles and escalating U.S.-China tensions. Now, its founder is staking his future on an American revival.
Illustration by Sam Ward
When Hou Xiaodi founded the autonomous trucking company TuSimple ten years ago, he was optimistic about launching a U.S. tech firm with Chinese roots — and for good reason.
Hou Xiaodi, October 19, 2022. Credit: TechCrunch
Jack Ma had just celebrated Alibaba’s record $25 billion IPO on the floor of the New York stock exchange and had plans to expand his group’s U.S. presence. Chinese search engine Baidu had opened a $300 million AI research lab in Sunnyvale California, and companies l
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Millions of Chinese factory owners have been bequeathed a difficult inheritance. AI offers a way to modernize their parents’ low-margin businesses, but only if they can overcome often deep-rooted resistance to change.
The longtime China scholar says that while Trump has diminished America’s reputation, Xi Jinping’s continued overreach means China has failed to take advantage.
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