TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Tucson had high hopes for high dollar tech jobs from a robotic truck company that set up operations here. But now TuSimple is shutting down its U.S. operations to concentrate on Asia.
Because of that the City of Tucson is working to claw back incentives it gave to keep the company here.
The Chinese company built a facility on Old Vail Road to test robotic semi-trucks. At one time it was making regular runs to Phoenix with a human driver on board in case of any problems.
Because TuSimple promised to create a lot of jobs with high pay, the City of Tucson gave the company more than 110 thousand dollars in incentives. Since TuSimple did not maintain those jobs for at least five years, the city’s told the company it needs to pay that money back.
In an email response to the city’s letter, the company’s attorney said she’ll pass on the city’s demand for payment.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
