Benzinga | Apr 16, 2021 07:46AM EDT

TuSimple Paints Optimistic Profit Projections For 2024 Driverless Truck Launch: Bloomberg

* San Diego's self-driving semi-truck firm TuSimple Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: TSP) CEO Cheng Lu has projected impressive profits following the debut of its 2024 driverless 18-wheelers in partnership with Navistar International Corp (NYSE: NAV) and Volkswagen AG's (OTC: VWAGY) trucking unit Traton SE (OTC:TRATF), Bloomberg reports.

* Driverless trucks will enable higher productive hours and reduce hauling costs by 50%, stated Lu. He targeted higher profitability through a volume scaleup.

* The company with significant Chinese operations raised $1.35 billion in a public offering on Thursday after losing over $300 million in the last three years.

* TuSimple reported a 2020 revenue of $1.8 million with a $178 million loss. It has failed to deliver promised monthly revenue of $1 million in the second half of 2019.

* TuSimple planned to organize a one-time demonstration of a driverless truck for more than 100 miles, including at night, later this year.

* TuSimple was working towards the resolution of reliability and redundancy issues.

* The online shopping boom coupled with a shortage of truck drivers played a crucial role in attracting driverless delivery investment, including Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Waymo and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN)-backed Aurora Innovation Inc.

* Autonomous-driving start-up Argo AI, a partner to Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) and Volkswagen, is contemplating a 2021 listing. Driverless truck start-up Plus is aiming to go public via a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) merger.

* Price action: TSP shares traded lower by 2.50% at $39 in the premarket session on the last check Friday.