Chinese self-driving truck startup hauls in $188m in Sequoia co-led round

China-based Inceptio Technology, a startup developing self-driving trucks, has raised US$188 million in a series B+ equity financing round jointly led by Sequoia Capital China and Legend Capital.

Photo credit: Inceptio

Inceptio offers autonomous driving tech for trucks and operates a nationwide transportation-as-a-service freight network. It works with players in the automotive industry by preloading its offerings and systems into mass-produced autonomous trucks.

At the end of 2021, Inceptio said it realized front-loading mass production of Level 3 (L3) autonomous driving trucks, in cooperation with its industry partners. Level 3 means that a vehicle can fully take over all driving tasks, but drivers still need to pay constant attention to the road and keep their hands near their steering wheels.

According to the company, its L3 trucks have already been cost validated and are now scaling up.

Julian Ma, the founder and CEO of Inceptio, said that the startup will keep its focus on full-stack independent development and center its tech around mass production units.

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Ohter investors in the round include:

• Chow Tai Fook Enterprises
• Cedarlake Capital
• Wuchan Zhongda Group
• Meituan
• NIO Capital
• Eight Roads
• Broad Vision Funds