At TuSimple, we are focused on pursuing ways to create a sustainable future for both our company and our community. Our technology and mission are highly aligned with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles and impact. Sustainability is core to our commercialization strategy and product development process, and we continuously look to invest in the long-term wellbeing and development of our employees and communities to increase economic growth and opportunity.
The TuSimple 2021 ESG Report highlights company initiatives that contribute to the environmental, social, and governance growth and impact of our business. This report provides a high-level overview of the TuSimple approach to and progress with key ESG issues. Our mission is to make long-haul trucking safer and more efficient, creating significant benefits for all the communities our freight ecosystem serves. We are thrilled to publish our second annual ESG Report that details our vision and progress towards this goal.
Our ESG Report is guided by the United Nations (UN) Social Development Goals (SDG), which are a set of 17 global goals adopted at the UN in September 2015. These goals aim to transform our world by 2030 and are an urgent call to action for public, private and social sectors to come together in global partnership. At TuSimple, we believe that we can contribute to our communities by making long-haul trucking safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. In line with our current business and operations,
Environmental Initiatives
- In a study conducted by the University of California San Diego (UCSD), our virtual driver has proven to be 10% more fuel efficient than trucks operated manually.
- By testing our system over 160,000 miles in real-world conditions for the UPS North American Air Freight Services, our TuSimple autonomous driver delivered over 13% fuel savings compared to human drivers when operated in the optimal long-haul operating band of 55 to 68 miles per hour.
- TuSimple has demonstrated our commitment to reducing harmful emissions as a global leader in freight sustainability by becoming one of the first autonomous trucking companies to be recognized as a SmartWay Certified Carrier in 2018. In 2021, TuSimple was recognized on the SmartWay High Performer List.
- TuSimple has enabled our employees to reduce their carbon footprint by achieving LEED Silver Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for our San Diego Headquarters and recognition as an ENERGY STAR Partner by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as various other internal initiatives.
Social Initiatives
- Local Economic Impact: With our major operations center located in Tucson, TuSimple works with other industry and community leaders through Sun Corridor, Inc. to promote economic growth in Southern Arizona, helping to bring additional jobs and investment to the community. In May 2021, we announced plans to increase our Tucson footprint, with an expansion of roughly 35,000 square feet of office, lab and warehouse space for continued technology development. Additionally, at all of our locations, we strive to source meals from vendors in the surrounding communities, including minority-owned restaurants or food trucks. We’re intentional about all local partnerships because they’re key in supporting a sustainable future, growing roots and supporting the community that supports us.
- Solving Food Waste and Insecurity: Over the past several years, we have been collaborating with stakeholders and partners across the food industry. Most recently, we worked with Giumarra and the Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) to validate the benefit of autonomy for middle-mile applications by reducing the time for a middle-mile load by 42%. Additionally, we have been working with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona since 2018 to provide both food donations and freight transportation during times of need. To date, we have successfully delivered more than 3.5 million pounds of food, or 2.7 million meals, to communities in need.
- Supporting our Communities: TuSimple actively participates in community donation projects and initiatives. This includes collecting a total of 150 lbs of food during the 2021 winter holiday season for a local in-person food drive for Feeding San Diego, participating in yearly holiday toy drives in partnership with the US Marines and Toys for Tots and donating over $25,000 to Active Minds in 2021. Additionally, in February 2021 when Texas was especially hard-hit by power outages due to extreme winter storms, we partnered with Sparkletts and the Texas Division of Emergency Management to donate 10 water pallets to the Catholic Charities of Fort Worth and other non-profits. Finally, in 2021, we launched an initiative to sell TuSimple Pride shirts to raise funds for donation to The Trevor Project.
- Human Rights: Although TuSimple is an autonomous trucking company, we will continue to have safety drivers and Autonomous Vehicle (AV) system operators on the roads who may encounter human trafficking incidents that should be reported. TuSimple is the first autonomous trucking company to sign on as a sponsor of Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT). We recently expanded our mandatory TAT training program to include our system operators, ensuring that every TuSimple employee driving in our trucks on public roads is trained on what red flags to look for as indicators that human trafficking may be taking place. As of December 2021, we have trained and certified over 60 safety drivers and AV system operators for TAT.
- Workforce Development: To help prepare today’s workforce for new jobs in the autonomous trucking industry, we partner with colleges in the communities that we operate in. In 2020, we launched our ongoing partnership with Pima Community College to create the Autonomous Vehicle Driver and Operations Specialist certificate program, which is the nation’s first accredited program that teaches existing Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) holders how to become autonomous truck operators. Continuing these efforts, we announced a partnership with Louisiana’s Community and Technical Colleges System (LCTCS) to launch a training course in artificial intelligence in June 2021.
- Safety:
- In 2021, we created and published our first Safety Report to provide an overview of how we ensure that testing and development of our trucks is safe. This report was also submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as part of its Automated Driving Systems Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment (VSSA).
- In 2021, we also published a Safety Framework for The First Semi-Truck Driver Out Program, which speaks to our safety culture and governance, safety processes and best practices, and our Safety Case Framework for our Driver Out Program.
- During Q3 2021, we released the initial results of a safety-performance study by Geotab, a global leader in IoT and connected transportation. The initial results of the study, which are based on 80,000 autonomous miles driven by our autonomous trucks, indicate that the TuSimple autonomous technology helps significantly reduce the number of harsh driving events that might lead to accidents. The study also helped us uncover substantial improvements in harsh braking, harsh acceleration, and harsh cornering by autonomous trucks, as compared to manually-driven trucks.
- Currently, we are working together with Liberty Mutual, a multinational company offering insurance products and services, to study the comparative safety benefits of autonomous trucks and the potential impact on commercial vehicle insurance.
- Earlier this year, we became one of the first companies dedicated exclusively to autonomous trucks to join the Self-Driving Coalition, which has recently been renamed to the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA). This coalition was created to advocate for the vast range of use cases of autonomous vehicles and to educate lawmakers, regulators and the public on their safety and social benefits.
- Company Culture and Diversity:
- We believe that a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives makes us stronger and better able to strategically respond to changes in the industry. As of December 31, 2021, our U.S. workforce was 23% female and 66% ethnically diverse with individuals from ethnic minorities.
- At TuSimple, we are committed to fair pay for equal work regardless of sex, color, or sexual orientation. Along with 60 other companies, we have taken the California Pay Equity Pledge and hope other California-based companies will join us in this movement.
- We have created a culture that encourages our employees to fulfill their long-term goals, grow personally, and develop professionally by implementing a range of employee, team, and company-wide initiatives.
Governance Initiatives
- Board of Directors: At TuSimple, the Board of Directors (the Board) is directly and regularly engaged with senior leadership and all have experience as top-level executives at public companies. The Board has four standing committees: the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and the Government Security Committee. Our Board is one of the company’s most important assets, and we strive to create an inclusive and diverse environment. Currently, our board is 40 % female and 20% ethnic minority.
- Corporate Governance: At TuSimple, good governance is key to driving our success and building long-term sustainable value for our stakeholders. Our corporate governance approach includes a code of conduct guided by our company mission and values, which our Board and employees are required to abide by. Externally, we maintain a number of compliance and audit partnerships. Internally, we have developed and implemented a company whistleblower and safety hotline process for internal investigations, procedures for ethical complaints, and waves of required employee training on key topics such as data security and anti-harassment.
- Safety Governance: Given the impact of governance on our safety outcomes, we actively prioritize optimization of our organizational structure, policies and product development processes to ensure success of our safety mission. Our safety governance approach includes our Safety Committee, who holds primary responsibility for establishing, validating and confirming the Driver Out Safety Framework, managing necessary adjustments and assuring adherence to the Safety Framework before launching Driver Out missions on public roads. Additionally, since our inception, we have prioritized a culture of safety and have instituted a structured methodology behind our safety practices and procedures. Along with building the right teams, we equip and train our employees on industry-leading safety methodologies, practices and procedures. Furthermore, we empower employees to raise concerns and validate through leadership action that these concerns are heard, taken seriously, and acted upon. This is evident in the use of our Safety Hotline, a process by which employees can report behaviors or decisions that they believe to be unsafe. This provides all employees across our organization the ability to confidentially and anonymously report any existing issues regarding safety matters and contribute to company-wide adherence to our safety policies and procedures.
In addition to our internal initiatives, we have also engaged with our various partners to conduct studies that have uncovered industry-wide environmental and social benefits. Environmental benefits range from increased fuel efficiency, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and fewer hours spent by truckers on driving empty miles and idling in the cabs. Some social benefits include increased safety, positive public health impacts, reductions in food waste and food insecurity and contributions to addressing human rights issues such as human trafficking. Earlier this year, we published our research and findings in a white paper titled “The Potential Environmental and Social Impacts of Autonomous Trucking.”
We recognize and understand the impact that an autonomous trucking company can and must make. We are working hard to make a positive contribution to the communities around us by reducing the emissions associated with our trucks, responsibly managing our operations and giving back to the communities we operate in. As we work to bring transformational change to the trucking industry, we will continue to make decisions for the greater good and make impactful change where we can.
Download the full 2021 TuSimple ESG Report.