TuSimple Holdings Inc. on Thursday said it was replacing its CEO in a decision it called part of a “planned executive succession,” but which took Wall Street by surprise and caused its shares to plummet more than 20 percent.
The self-driving trucking company said Xiaodi Hou, up until now TuSimple’s chief technology officer, will replace Cheng Lu as chief executive and president effective immediately.
Shares slid 23 percent following the announcement to $13, significantly below their $40 initial public offering price in April 2021.
Lu had been at the helm of the self-driving company since 2018 and led TuSimple during its IPO. He will serve as an adviser to the new CEO until March 2023 to ensure an effective transition, a time during which he will receive an annual salary of $450,000, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Lu appeared on an Automotive News podcast on Feb. 13. TuSimple’s executive team had not mentioned plans for an executive succession during any of the company’s last four public earnings calls.
Hou, 37, is a co-founder of TuSimple and received a PhD from the California Institute of Technology.
“This is part of a planned executive succession as the company moves to its next phase of commercializing … autonomous trucking technology,” TuSimple said in a statement.
TuSimple is part of a growing field of companies working to commercialize self-driving trucks at a time when the United States and other countries struggle with a supply chain crunch and a shortage of truck drivers.