The news of Embark Trucks laying off its workforce and exploring the potential liquidation of its self-driving truck assets made waves in the tech world last month. The Silicon Valley-based trucking firm, which claimed to be working on the development of the world’s first self-driving trucks, had raised over 80 million dollars in venture capital funding to date.
However, the company’s struggles to come up with a self-driving truck viable for mass production has proven to be too much to bear and it’s now forced to take drastic measures to stay afloat. This includes making a large number of its employees redundant, and possibly liquidating its existing self-driving truck assets.
The situation has been growing worse since October when the company withdrew its self-driving trucks from public roads due to issues in its lidar sensors. Embark was previously able to boast of a range of accolades and positive press coverage, including being named as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2018.
But with its flagship product yet to prove itself, it faced a difficult decision – either continue trying to develop its self-driving trucks without additional funding, or sell its assets in order to keep its business running. Ultimately, it chose the latter, and its assets are now up for sale.
The news will come as a disappointment to those in the tech industry who have been watching Embark’s progress for the last few years. It also raises questions about the viability of self-driving trucks in general. Despite the success of companies such as Tesla and Ike, the vast majority of self-driving truck projects have yet to be proven commercially viable.
Whether the liquidation of Embark’s assets are enough to keep the company afloat remains to be seen. It is however a clear sign of the increasing competition in the space and how difficult it is to break into a field that even major players are struggling with.
It also serves as a lesson to other startups operating in the self-driving truck industry – that success can’t be achieved without proper planning, implementation and sufficient capital.
