BEIJING - TuSimple Holdings said on Thursday it would rebrand as CreateAI and pivot from autonomous trucking to AI gaming technology, marking an attempt by the once-prominent self-driving truck startup to make a comeback.

CEO Cheng Lu told Reuters in an interview that the move into gaming and animation technology represented a natural evolution of the company's capabilities, though the transition comes after two years of setbacks and regulatory challenges.

Founded in 2015, TuSimple attracted investments from Chinese internet giant Sina Corp and global heavyweights such as Nvidia, Volkswagen and UPS. But the self-driving truck developer's fortunes reversed in 2022 when U.S. regulators began probing its Chinese connections, triggering boardroom disputes.

Early this year, the company said it had decided to delist from Nasdaq, fewer than three years after raising $1.35 billion in an April 2021 initial public offering.

TuSimple is facing a major legal challenge brought by former CEO Xiaodi Hou, which resulted in a court order restricting the company from U.S.-China financial transfers "beyond normal business operations". The company is also embroiled in a dispute over its U.S. assets, including $450 million in cash reserves.

While CEO Lu said the board had approved management's March proposal to pivot to AI gaming, representatives for Hou and other shareholders have contested the move, claiming investments in Chinese gaming and animation development lacked proper shareholder approval.

The company cited third-party reports valuing the global gaming market at $200 billion in 2023, according to a business plan document sent to Reuters.

The rebranded CreateAI will focus on video game and anime production and publishing, leveraging its newly developed image-to-video AI model, Ruyi, for content development, the business plan document shows.

The company has 270 employees globally, including research and content production teams across China, Japan and the United States.

(Reporting by Liam Mo and Brenda Goh. Editing by Mark Potter)