Embark Technology, a California firm that sought to place autonomous semi-trucks on the street and take a look at in Texas, is seemingly no extra, in response to an electronic mail from Embark’s CEO to staff seen by Automotive News. In the e-mail, Alex Rodrigues, the CEO, says he’s “profoundly sorry.”
Embark was based in 2016, in response to its web site, and can observe one other self-driving firm — Argo AI —in closing, after Argo shut down operations final October.
Rodrigues’s electronic mail sounds fairly defeated:
Rodrigues cited an incapacity to lift capital and delays in “the prospect of scaled commercial deployment” of autonomous trucking for the closure.
“I am writing to you today with a heavy heart. The last nine months have been tough for the autonomous trucking industry, and for Embark — the capital markets have turned their backs on pre-revenue companies,” Rodrigues stated.
“In challenging times, it is the whole company’s job to be flexible and optimistic in pursuing a sometimes-changing direction — and it is the job of the CEO to navigate the challenges and make sure those directions ultimately get the team to the other side. You held up your end of that bargain, I was not able to hold up mine — for that I am profoundly sorry,” he wrote.
According to paperwork filed with the SEC on Friday, Embark will likely be decreasing its workforce by 230 staff, although Auto News says they may nonetheless receives a commission till June 2, and nonetheless have healthcare till the top of August. That SEC doc additionally says the next:
On March 1, 2023, the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) authorised a course of to discover, evaluation and consider a variety of potential strategic alternate options accessible to the Company, together with, with out limitation, exploring various makes use of of the Company’s property to commercialize its know-how, further sources of financing, in addition to potential dissolution or winding up of the Company and liquidation of its property.
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Still, Auto News says that the remaining staff at Embark will spend their time winding down the enterprise and liquidating. Embark’s inventory was buying and selling at $3.88 on Friday, giving it a valuation of simply over $90 million, a far fall from even a pair years in the past, when it was buying and selling for over 50 instances that.
Source: jalopnik.com