SHANGHAI & WUHAN, China & FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Inceptio Technology (“Inceptio”), an autonomous trucking start-up, announced its completion of US$100 million in capital raising and A-sample validation in L3 autonomous truck volume production development.
The A-sample validation is the first in China autonomous driving industry and was conducted together with Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd. (“Dongfeng Trucks”). It is a key milestone of productization in China autonomous driving industry and marks a solid step taken by Inceptio in volume production of L3 autonomous trucks in accordance with its set timeline.
Build and Operate Autonomous Trucking Network
An autonomous trucking start-up focusing on China line-haul freight shipping, Inceptio adopts an end-to-end business model. It develops proprietary autonomous technology for trucks and will operate its own nationwide autonomous trucking network starting 2022.
Inceptio partners with leading OEMs in volume production of autonomous trucks which preload its proprietary software and computing hardware. Its L3 autonomous heavy-duty trucks are planned to be rolled off from the OEM production line by the end of 2021.
To date, more than 100 logistics and freight companies had already signed up for Inceptio's Smart Truck Asset Service, marking the key progress in its commercialization.
The Industry’s First A-Sample Validation
for Autonomous Truck Volume Production
In June 2019, Inceptio launched joint development projects with leading Chinese OEMs for volume production of L3 autonomous heavy-duty trucks. Inceptio is responsible for developing full-stack autonomous software and on-board computing platform, while OEMs focus on engineering of drive-by-wire chassis platform. Both parties, supported by the deep involvement of global Tier-1 suppliers, jointly fulfill the integration of autonomous driving unit into the vehicle and conduct the test and validation.
In March 2020, Inceptio and Dongfeng Trucks completed A-Sample validation. The two parties jointly completed the vehicle definition, design for truck platform upgrade and drive-by-wire chassis platform, interaction between autonomous driving system and vehicle, and the validation of core functions and performance. Global Tier-1 Knorr-Bremse is a key partner in Inceptio-Dongfeng Trucks joint program and provides the drive-by-wire steering and braking systems with redundancy.
Mr. Wei WANG, Deputy General Manager of Dongfeng Trucks said: "The joint development program between Dongfeng Trucks and Inceptio towards volume production of autonomous trucks will provide highly reliable and efficient Smart Logistics solutions to our customers. Dongfeng Trucks is committed to the partnership and will accelerate the development in autonomous driving standard, vehicle integration, powertrain and other core technologies. We will actively promote smart vehicles and advanced connectivity in China's commercial vehicles industry."
Mr. Julian MA, Founder and CEO of Inceptio, said: "The A-sample validation in Inceptio-Dongfeng Trucks volume production development is a key milestone in productization in China autonomous driving industry. We are thankful to our investors and partners for their recognition of our R&D capability and business model and for their firm commitment to our future development. We will continue to pursue relentlessly the integration and innovation in autonomous driving and automotive engineering. We are confident to be the first to mass produce autonomous trucks and commercialize the autonomous driving technologies in China."
Firm Support from Industry Partners and Investors
Founder and CEO of G7 Networks Limited (“G7”), Mr. Sherman ZHAI said: "The autonomous trucking network built upon big data and artificial intelligence will become a pay-as-you-go infrastructure service in the logistics industry. G7 is willing to share its deep understanding of the logistics industry and customer needs with Inceptio. Leveraging on G7's well established Big Data Analytics and network of service, we join hand in hand to usher in the new era of ‘Mobility as a Service’.”
Mr. Ming MEI, Co-founder and CEO of GLP, said: " Inceptio has gathered top talents across the fields of autonomous driving, vehicle engineering and logistics operations. They are among the most capable teams for realizing autonomous driving in logistics. Together with Inceptio, GLP will leverage its asset management strengths to build an exceptional intelligent Asset as a Service platform."
Mr. Jielong ZHANG, Chief Financial Officer of Inceptio said: "The world is experiencing changes brought on by disruptive technology in the scale never seen before, whilst the world is also facing challenges in multiple fronts. Despite unprecedented difficulties due to COVID-19 pandemic, we are proud that Inceptio team, our investors and our industry partners across locations in Shanghai, Wuhan and Silicon Valley were able to close capital raising and deliver product milestone on schedule. We look forward to working with more partners, together We Make Logistics Graceful!"
