China autonomous truck player Inceptio secures $120m

Existing backers such as logistics giant GLP, electric vehicle manufacturer Nio and fleet manager G7 all re-upped. The company raised $100 million in May from undisclosed investors.

Proceeds of the latest round will go towards accelerating mass production and commercial operation of level-three (L3) autonomous driving heavy trucks. At this level, vehicles have conditional autonomy, but a human override is still required.

Inceptio has jointly developed L3 for heavy trucks with state-owned Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles and China National Heavy Duty Truck. It hopes to achieve mass-production by the end of 2021. The company said in May that the A Sample L3 truck it co-developed with Dongfeng was the first vehicle of its kind to be certified for mass-production in the domestic market.

Inception's ultimate goal is to provide a transportation-as-a-service (TaaS) freight network. This is generally considered as an asset-light operation model that can generate revenue earlier than if managing an in-house fleet. Inceptio claims to have signed service contracts with more than 100 logistics companies. 

Autonomous trucking appeals because of its large addressable market, the ease of navigating highways versus city streets, and the fact that there are essentially no concerns around driver or passenger safety when transporting goods.

Inception's competitors in this space include US and China-based TuSimple, which claims to have the only driverless truck technology suitable for both highways and normal streets. There is also PlusAI, which has produced a L3 autonomous truck in collaboration with FAW Jiefang, China’s largest truck maker. 

Private equity targets in China's autonomous driving industry generally fall into one of two categories. First, mainstream vehicle manufacturers offering robotaxi services. One of this number, Pony.ai, recently secured a $267 million Series C round led by Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTTP) at a post-money valuation of $5.3 billion.

Second, niche operators that concentrate on specific vehicles like trucks or specific scenarios like ports or airports. For example, UISEE Technology is a luggage transportation specialist, while Waytous focuses on the mining industry.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• automobiles
• artificial intelligence
• Nio Capital
• GLP