Tucson seeking $1 billion to sell its China business in the future? Sources said it was actually seeking privatization at a valuation of $1 billion and would not be sold. After privatization, it will operate independently in the Chinese market. Under the pressure of safety supervision on both Sides of The China-US data, Tucson's future spin-off measures may become a way out for self-driving companies to follow, or trigger the Tucson effect. However, from the information revealed by the relevant regulators in China and the United States, autonomous driving is being encouraged in commercial landing, and it faces stricter supervision in data security. This has positive implications for the long-term clarity of the governance model for autonomous driving.
Wen 丨 wisdom driving network Huang Huadan
Yesterday evening, a Reuters report quoted sources as saying that with the support of Sina, Tucson is looking to sell its China business in the future and focus on the US market.
The decision came after it was investigated by the U.S. government and agreed to restrict access to part of the data by its Chinese company.
Zhie NengQiChe was the first to verify that Tucson would sell its China business in the future.
It is understood that Tucson China is "seeking privatization at a valuation of $1 billion, not selling the company to a third party, and will operate independently in the Chinese market after the completion of the privatization." ”
This means that after the privatization of Tucson's future China business, Tucson China and Tucson USA will be two independent companies, in addition to the possibility of retaining some of the business partnership, there will be a clearer division of different companies at the capital level.
Given the size of the Chinese market, after the privatization of Tucson China, the core organizational structure of its Chinese company will remain unchanged, and it will continue to develop its autonomous driving business in China.
In a Reuters report, it quoted sources as saying that Tucson wants to sell the Chinese unit for $1 billion and has negotiated with several Chinese investment firms, including private equity firm Boyu Capital, to find potential buyers.
The person also said the decision to sell the Chinese business was the result of "strict regulation" in China and the United States, adding that the Tucson business is expected to "grow independently" after addressing security concerns.
Judging from the information disclosed at home and abroad, it is a foregone conclusion that Tucson will become two relatively independent companies in China and the United States in the future.
It also means that the autonomous driving data of the two independent companies in china and the United States will no longer be shared, in response to the data security of the two countries.
On the same day, Reuters reported that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said that the current U.S. policy framework has not fully kept pace with the development of autonomous driving, and it is expected to introduce important policies for autonomous driving in the next few years.
Regulation, he said, must set boundaries for self-driving cars without stifling an industry that is "still in its infancy."
As for whether there will still be common shareholders between China and the United States after Tucson's future spin-off, we estimate that this is a high probability event.
In fact, Tucson's future spin-off of Chinese and American companies has been rumored in the industry for a while, and there is currently news that this is not a matter of Tucson's future, and many autonomous driving companies that are both in China and the United States are facing similar situations, and there is also Zhijia Technology that is currently undergoing similar operations.
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Tucson will be investigated by the U.S. government in the future
The cause of the incident is that Tucson will be investigated by the U.S. government for data security issues in the future.
On February 22, US time, financial media Bloomberg reported that Tucson will reach an agreement with the US government in the future to solve the security problems surrounding its self-driving truck business and the company's relationship with China.
At that time, through reviewing relevant documents of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Tucson Future filed a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 18, showing that on that day (February 18), Tucson Future signed a national security agreement with the U.S. government.
According to the agreement:
Both Charles Chao and Bonnie Yi Zhang have agreed not to run after the expiration of their current board terms; Sun Dream Inc has agreed not to nominate alternative candidates or increase its existing stake in the Company. Cao Guowei and Zhang Yi are the chairman and CEO of Sina and the chief financial officer of Sina respectively. (Editor's note: Sina's Sun Dream Inc is a future investor in Tucson)
The Company agrees to restrict access to certain data and to adopt a technical control program. According to Jim Mullen, Tucson's future chief administrative officer and legal officer, the measures include restricting the company's China division from accessing some information, including source code and algorithms for its self-driving truck business.
The Company will also appoint a Security Officer and Safety Director, establish a Government Safety Committee under the Company's Board of Directors, chaired by the Safety Director, and meet regularly with CFIUS regulators and report to them.
As a result, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) concluded its review of TuSimple Holdings Inc. and determined that there were no unresolved national security issues.
In summary, Tucson will agree to restrict access to some data and information by the Chinese department, including the source code and algorithms of the self-driving truck business, and that the company will set up a government safety committee to regularly monitor it in exchange for the U.S. government's investigation.
For the specific content of the investigation and the agreement, you can check the previous article published by the intelligent driving network "Review of Tucson's Future Investigation by the US Government".
At that time, according to industry analysts, Tucson's future China business will have a big move.
Now that the boots have landed, tucson has planned to spin off the U.S. business after the U.S. government investigated the incident.
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The Tucson effect
As the "first stock of autonomous driving", Tucson's future has been on the cusp of the storm recently.
In the eyes of the Chinese media, the main reason for the agreement is to protect the technology in the United States from flowing to China.
And vice versa.
Lu Cheng, then future CEO of Tucson, said: "Countries around the world want to keep key technologies at home. ”
In addition to technology, autonomous driving also involves a large amount of data, and its sensitivity is even greater.
Jim Mullen, Tucson's future chief administrative and legal officer, also said in an interview with the media: "We fully understand the sensitivity of AI, and its relationship to the geopolitical climate, and we will do our best to comply with the agreement." ”
The signal from this incident is enough to make all self-driving companies that do business together in China and the United States jealous.
Recently, Chinese stocks are at risk of being delisted on nasdaq, and the unprecedented plunge has exacerbated the panic.
According to sources, after Tucson reaches an agreement with the U.S. government in the future, many self-driving companies in both China and the United States may be considering the model of spin-off.
Zhijia Technology is one of them.
Zhijia Technology was founded in Silicon Valley in the United States in 2016, and its founding team is mostly from Stanford University. Focusing on the trunk logistics scene, it has developed business in the United States, China and Europe, and its investors are also from all over the world.
In April 2021, Zhijia Technology completed a new round of FINANCING OF US$220 million, led by FountainVestPartners and ClearVuePartners, with SAIC Capital, Sequoia China, Manbang Group, QuantaComputer Inc., PhiZoyi Capital and Millennium Technology Value Partners) followed.
Zhie NengQiChe (ID: ZhieNengQiChe) asked the relevant people of Zhijia Technology at the first time, and the other party did not respond on the grounds of sensitive information.
If the news is true, it will be a big blow to the entire industry.
Autonomous driving companies operating in both China and the United States are involved in a wide range of issues, and we have previously taken stock of Chinese companies that conduct road tests in both places at the same time when we interpret the DMV report of the California Traffic Management Bureau, including Baidu Apollo, Didi, Xiaoma Zhixing, Yuanrong Qixing, AutoX, Yinche Technology and many other companies.
Once the autonomous driving data between Chinese and American companies cannot be shared, it will inevitably cause internal tears, whether in technology or the development of the company itself is a kind of harm.
It remains to be seen whether the Tucson model formed by Tucson's future spin-off event will trigger the Tucson effect in the autonomous driving industry.
However, for this spin-off, industry observers told the intelligent driving network: "Concentrate on domestic business, and eating domestic applications thoroughly is not necessarily all bad."
For Tucson USA, the split business will make its operations in the United States more stable and the market is favorable.
Tucson Future shares rose sharply yesterday, closing up 22.37%.
Of course, behind this is related to the specific cooperation plan that China and the United States will reach for the China Stock Exchange.
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The dilemma and breaking of autonomous driving
Yesterday (March 16), the Financial Stability and Development Committee of the State Council held a special meeting to study the current economic situation and capital market issues.
Regarding the China Stock Exchange, Liu He, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice premier of the State Council and director of the Financial Commission, said: At present, the regulatory authorities of China and the United States have maintained good communication, made positive progress, and are working to form a specific cooperation plan. The Chinese government continues to support all kinds of enterprises to list overseas.
This is partly good news for Chinese companies, but sources say that because tucson's "corporate nature is more sensitive, this relationship will still be a constraint on China's business in the long run."
When countries try to keep technology within their own borders, it can lead to a split in standards, a split in applications, and even a split in companies.
This is also the dilemma that all multinational self-driving companies need to face.
However, as the earlier analysis of the intelligent driving network said, the earlier this collision occurs, the more conducive it is for countries around the world to explore mutual recognition of the international governance model of automatic driving.
Automatic driving requires top-level design, the development of this industry naturally has the characteristics of globalization, the future of the travel industry driverless is an irreversible historical trend, and the car such travel products are the basic consumer goods of international trade.
At present, at the level of data sovereignty and data security, the next step for countries to worry about is not to split up indefinitely, but to reach a mechanism of mutual trust.
This mechanism now has the first consensus: data localization management.
The second consensus is that regulators in China and the United States need to establish communication mechanisms at the top level to solve the globalization of autonomous driving.
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The landing of the regulatory mechanism itself is a "protection mechanism"
In a report by Reuters on the 16th, US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said that the current US policy framework has not fully kept up with the pace of development of automatic driving, and it is expected to introduce important policies for automatic driving in the next few years.
He stressed that regulation must set boundaries for self-driving cars without stifling an industry that is "still in its infancy." The government will give the industry the space it needs to thrive unless "security issues are officially escalated."
Buttigieg added that one of the ways to effectively step on the industry's "deceleration brakes" is to limit the number of self-driving test vehicles that companies can use.
In recent days, China and the United States have revealed their willingness to encourage the development of autonomous driving.
In China it is said that a green card will be issued for driverless vehicles and L3 self-driving passenger cars will be opened to the road.
And the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just announced a historic decision last week that self-driving automakers no longer need to equip fully autonomous vehicles with manual driving control systems: manual controls such as traditional steering wheels, brakes or accelerator pedals can be eliminated.
However, observers have also found that on the one hand, the commercialization of autonomous driving is being relaxed, and at the same time, countries are also strengthening the supervision of autonomous driving.
It is also in this context that Tesla took the lead in becoming the "opening" object of the US regulator.
Last November, NHTSA launched a formal investigation into a Model Y lane change collision caused by Tesla's FSD software, and then asked Tesla to recall 475,000 Model 3/Model S to address the problem that rearview cameras may increase the risk of collision. This year, NHTSA asked Tesla to stop using the mid-screen game game function during driving; then asked Tesla to recall 54,000 vehicles with beta FSD software installed, and then launched an investigation into its "ghost brake" problem.
Reuters quoted Markus Schaefer, Mercedes-Benz's chief technology officer, as saying on Tuesday that the company was "absolutely" happy to see a regulatory mechanism in place, which Mercedes-Benz sees as a "protection mechanism" to allow it to compete with Tesla after the introduction of its intelligent driving system in the United States.
From this perspective, although Tucson's future spin-off has cast a cloud on the globalization of autonomous driving, from a policy perspective, both China and the United States are seeking rational dialogue and supervision.
This is not necessarily a good thing for the industry.
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