Travis Kalanick Targets Robotaxis with Heavily Funded Startup Atoms
Armed with $1.7 billion and backing from Uber, the former chief executive is building autonomous vehicle technology.
Key highlights · 2 min read
- Travis Kalanick, the founder and former chief executive of Uber, is positioning his well-funded venture Atoms to make a major push into the autonomous vehicle sector, according to a report from [Te…
- The startup is preparing an aggressive hiring drive and targeted acquisitions designed to build out autonomous driving technology.
- Uber is already financially tied to the project, having invested $100 million into Atoms.
The Scale ReportTravis Kalanick, the founder and former chief executive of Uber, is positioning his well-funded venture Atoms to make a major push into the autonomous vehicle sector, according to a report from TechCrunch.
The startup is preparing an aggressive hiring drive and targeted acquisitions designed to build out autonomous driving technology. Building on details first reported by the Financial Times, Atoms has held talks with Uber regarding the deployment of its robotaxi systems onto the global ride-hailing platform.
Uber is already financially tied to the project, having invested $100 million into Atoms. That capital forms part of a wider $1.7 billion funding round raised earlier this summer, which was led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
The push into autonomous transport provides clearer context for Kalanick's prior description of the venture capital round as "unfinished business." Kalanick departed Uber in 2017 following a turbulent tenure during which he aggressively prioritized in-house autonomous vehicle development.
Concrete signs of this technical direction emerged through Atoms' acquisition of Pronto, an autonomous vehicle startup focused on industrial mining applications. Pronto was led by Anthony Levandowski, the former head of Uber's self-driving unit who was sentenced to 18 months in prison following a high-profile trade secrets conviction before receiving a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
The autonomous vehicle sector remains one of the most capital-intensive arenas in modern technology, defined by steep hardware costs and immense validation hurdles. By attempting to develop software and system capabilities while tapping existing ride-hailing networks for distribution, Atoms appears to be pursuing an infrastructure play rather than building a standalone passenger service from scratch.
Sources familiar with the matter noted that while autonomous systems represent a core focus of the company's recent recruitment and acquisition strategy, robotaxi operations do not account for the entirety of Atoms' broader ambitions.
Reporting based on coverage from AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch.
