Mullen to step down from TuSimple amid securities lawsuit

Jim Mullen will be leaving TuSimple shortly after an investor lawsuit was filed against the company.

TuSimple made the announcement through a securities filing that was recently released. Mullen, the former acting administrator and chief counsel for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was the chief legal and administrative officer at TuSimple. His resignation will go into effect Sept. 30.

Susan Marsch will serve as interim general counsel, effective Sept. 6, until a permanent successor is appointed. Marsch is a veteran general counsel with over 25 years of experience working with a variety of large, multinational companies in diverse industries that include technology, manufacturing, mobile devices and telecommunications.

Mullen left FMCSA at the end of August 2020. On Sept. 30, 2020, TuSimple announced that Mullen accepted a job at the company.

He became FMCSA’s acting administrator in late October 2019 and served in the role for about 10 months.

“We’re delighted to welcome former FMCSA acting Administrator Jim Mullen to the team,” TuSimple wrote on its LinkedIn page in 2020. “Jim’s experience leading the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will prove to be invaluable as we work to introduce L4 (level 4) autonomous trucks to the market safely and reliably by 2024.”

Mullen’s decision to leave TuSimple comes shortly after a class action lawsuit was filed against the company.

On Aug. 31, Austin Dicker, on behalf of other TuSimple investors, filed a lawsuit against the company in a Southern California federal court. The lawsuit stems from an incident involving a Level 4 truck that sent stock prices down by about 10%.

In a video obtained by Land Line, a TuSimple Level 4 truck is seen veering into a highway median. The truck nearly struck nearby vehicles.

The incident was part of TuSimple’s testing of its Level 4 autonomous trucks. In the video, a test driver is seen reaching over to activate the truck’s autonomous functions. Immediately, the truck jerks to the left, crashing into a median.

The incident questions the capability of TuSimple’s trucks versus what was reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association contends that the technology and infrastructure are not anywhere close to where they would need to be for truly “driverless” trucks to take the road. LL

Senior Editor Mark Schremmer contributed to this report.