RoboTruck Bets on Japan's Driver Shortage: TuSimple Co-founder's New Venture, ¥1.65B Pre-A

Develops autonomous driving systems for large trucks used in Japanese trunk-haul logistics (targeting L4 fully driverless), providing systems and operational solutions to logistics companies and vehicle manufacturers.

Japan's truck driver shortage is structural (1/3 of transport lacking drivers by 2030), so L4 driverless trucks will debut on Tokyo–Osaka corridor.

Seed round ¥300 million (3亿日元) (March 2025, University of Tokyo IPC (东大IPC), PKSHA Algorithm Fund, AIS Capital); cumulative Pre-A ¥1.65 billion (16.5亿日元) (September 2025, led by GLOBIS, with participation from ORIX, Archetype Ventures, Mizuho Leaguer, JIC VGI, SMBC VC, etc.).

In April 2024, Nan Wu, who had co-founded TuSimple in the United States (which developed the world's first batch of L4 heavy-truck autonomous driving and listed on Nasdaq), founded RoboTruck in Tokyo, targeting Japan's '2024 problem' (2024年问题)—tightened overtime limits for truck drivers made the capacity shortfall visible; in June 2025, former SkyDrive COO Yusuke Haga (羽賀雄介) became CEO, responsible for management and business development.

Completed a ¥300 million (3亿日元) seed round in March 2025; in July 2025, Pre-A of about ¥1.2 billion (12亿日元) (led by GLOBIS, with ORIX participating through a capital-business partnership); in September 2025, cumulative funding reached ¥1.65 billion (16.5亿日元) and JIC VGI and SMBC VC were introduced; within one year of establishment, completed a 100 km (100公里) L4-equivalent driving test on the Shin-Tomei Expressway (新东名高速), plans L4 demonstrations on Tokyo—Nagoya in fiscal year 2025 and Tokyo—Osaka in fiscal year 2026, and commercialization around fiscal years 2027/2028.

Still running: in development and demonstration stage, no public revenue; aims to become a leading player in Japan's long-distance trunk-haul autonomous trucks.

The market shortfall has a regulatory clock: the overtime limits under the '2024 problem' (2024年问题) are a statutory deadline, and the capacity shortfall can be quantified.

The team reuses U.S. experience: TuSimple co-founder brings the technology and pitfall record of the world's earliest L4 heavy trucks.

Path choice is extreme but clear: directly do fully driverless operation, rather than following assisted driving.

Set milestones first, then raise financing: within one year of establishment, completed a 100 km expressway L4 demonstration, allowing capital to see progress.

Nan Wu applied U.S. trucking lessons to Japan, leveraging a regulatory clock and quantifiable shortfall, using small-step financing to reach commercialization.

As of September 2025, RoboTruck raised ¥1.65B cumulatively from GLOBIS, ORIX, Archetype, Mizuho Leaguer, UTokyo IPC, PKSHA, AIS, JIC VGI, SMBC VC. Completed 100 km L4 test on Shin-Tomei Expressway, selected for METI Mobility DX. Plans L4 demos on Tokyo–Nagoya in FY2025, Tokyo–Osaka in FY2026, commercialization around FY2027/28. Still in development, no revenue.