Uber founder Travis Kalanick is back with Atoms

Uber’s founder, Travis Kalanick, has come to the fore again in the technology world with his new venture Atoms, which focuses on robotic technologies. According to the information on the company’s official website; Atoms aims to develop robotic systems that can be used in the food, mining and transportation sectors. Kalanick’s existing venture, CloudKitchens, will operate under this new structure. CloudKitchens, which allows restaurants to make delivery-oriented production with its cloud kitchen model, is thus moved to a more integrated structure with robotics and automation technologies. In addition, Atoms’ approach to developing robotic infrastructure for different sectors shows that the initiative will not focus only on a single field.

Atoms’ website states that the company will develop “a wheel base for robots.” Travis Kalanick stated in his live broadcast on the TBPN platform that this infrastructure will be used in special robots designed for specific tasks instead of humanoid robots. According to Kalanick, although humanoid robots have some uses, specialized robots that provide efficiency on an industrial scale are thought to have a much broader potential. This approach is based on a similar logic to robotic systems used in areas such as production lines, warehouse automation and logistics processes.

Atoms focuses on industrial robots and autonomous vehicle technologies

According to Kalanick’s statements, the technologies that Atoms will develop especially for the mining industry may be remarkable. The entrepreneur stated that they are very close to purchasing Pronto, an autonomous vehicle startup operating in mining and industrial fields. Pronto is known as a company founded by Anthony Levandowski, one of Uber’s former executives, and focuses on developing autonomous vehicle solutions in controlled environments such as mining sites. It is stated that Kalanick is also one of Pronto’s largest investors.

The use of autonomous vehicles in the field of industrial automation has become increasingly widespread in recent years. Especially in the mining industry, driverless trucks and automatic load transportation systems are preferred to reduce operational costs and increase safety. For this reason, it is emphasized that the robotic platforms to be developed by Atoms will create an integrated ecosystem with both robotic systems and autonomous vehicle technologies.

On the other hand, Kalanick stated that Atoms is not focused on developing robotic systems or autonomous transportation solutions for transporting people in the near term. However, he expressed the opinion that many different sectors will be interested in this technology at the point when mobility in the physical world is resolved. This statement indicates that although Atoms is initially focused on industrial use areas, it may open the door to wider applications in the future.

Travis Kalanick’s interest in autonomous vehicle technologies is not new. During his time at Uber’s helm, the company launched its own driverless vehicle program in 2015. However, after various crises within the company and Kalanick’s resignation in 2017, this project evolved in a different direction. Uber later transferred its driverless vehicle unit to Aurora, a company that develops autonomous truck technologies, in 2020. Despite this, it is known that Kalanick expressed regret in an interview he gave in recent years that Uber stopped developing its own autonomous vehicle technology.