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Self-driving truck company TuSimple Holdings has disclosed more details about plans to reduce its workforce by 30% — including that it will eliminate 151 jobs in San Diego.
WHO’s WHO IN AUTONOMOUS TRUCKING: Company sketches
Last week, TuSimple said it would reduce its global head count by 300 positions as it attempts to become leaner amid a tough economic environment, falling stock price and the possible delisting of its shares from the Nasdaq exchange.
TuSimple is headquartered in San Diego. It also has operations in Texas and Arizona, as well as Europe and China.
Previously, it declined to say exactly how many workers would be let go at its various locations. But on May 22, the company filed Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) paperwork with state and local employment officials that spells out San Diego job cuts.
Based on WARN documents, local positions being eliminated are either based out of the company’s University City headquarters or are remote workers who report into the headquarters.
While some laid-off workers were in administrative positions, a majority of those being let go held technical jobs — including more than 40 software specialists.
TuSimple’s latest layoff comes on top of the 143 San Diego jobs cut by the company in December. A TuSimple spokesperson said the other location impacted by the layoffs is its Arizona facility, where the company runs a road-testing program for its autonomous driving technology.
With this latest round of staff reductions, TuSimple expects to have 750 workers globally moving forward. It forecasts that the combined December and May workforce cuts will save the company $120 million in annual operating expenses.
At one time, TuSimple was a flag-bearer for autonomous trucking, at least among investors. It raised $1 billion when it went public in April 2021. By June of that year, the stock reached its peak price of $59 per share.
But a series of controversies between its board and management, the resignation of its auditor, the loss of a key customer and its failure to file financial statements on time has weighed on its stock price.
TuSimple’s shares closed May 24 at $2.03. The stock price has inched up from a low of 83 cents about two weeks ago. The Nasdaq initiated a delisting process over financial statement delays. TuSimple appealed, saying the resignation of its auditor put it in a bind. The matter remains pending. An appeal hearing is scheduled for June 22.
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