Mo Chen – a Canadian entrepreneur who co-founded TuSimple’s autonomous truck business – has now launched Hydron, an unrelated venture that looks to develop, manufacture and sell hydrogen-powered trucks with Level 4 autonomous technology.

He founded TuSimple with partner Xiaodi Hou in 2015, and the business secured US $1.3 billion in funding through an initial public offering in 2019.

“The path to commercializing autonomous vehicles requires the complex integration of both hardware and software,” said Chen, who is serving as Hydron’s chief executive officer.

“The biggest challenge in bringing autonomous driving to the market at scale is not software development, but access to reliable mass production hardware, and now with Hydron, we will be able to provide automotive-grade hardware specifically for autonomous networks.”

Hydron also plans to provide refueling infrastructure.

In a press release, the company said it plans to collaborate with partners to build a manufacturing facility in North America, with plans to enter “mass production” as early as Q3 2024.