Self Driving Truck Startup Embark Goes Public In $5.2 Billion SPAC Deal

Embark which is a 5-year-old startup says it will merge with a SPAC company Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp in a deal valued at $5.2 billion. Embark Trucking is yet another autonomous trucking startup but it has its own unique approach.Instead of manufacturing and operating a fleet of trucks, Embark offers autonomous driving software as a service. Carriers and fleets can pay per kilometre for a subscription fee to access it. The company includes carries Mesilla Valley Transportation, Bison Transport and partners like Anheuser-Busch InBev and HP. Carriers purchase trucks that have compatible hardware directly from the OEMs and Embark has designed its system to be "platform agnostic" across multiple components and manufacturers. It claims that it can simulate up to 1200 60 second scenarios for the behaviour of the other vehicles on the road. 

The self-driving startup has now merged via a SPAC

The company revealed in its investor presentation for the SPAC deal that it was targeting "driver-out" or operating on roads without a safety driver by 2023 and launching at a commercial scale across the US in the following year. There are multiple technical milestones the team at Embark has to achieve yet to fulfil this dream. Upon closing the deal, it will get around $615 million in cash, including $200 in private investment in public equity funding from investors including CPP investments, Knight-Swift Transportation, Mubadala Capital, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management. 

Embark has also said that the former DoT Secretary Elaine Chao was also joining its board which is going to be an advantage for it as it is only authorised to operate commercially in just 24 states.