Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick launches robotics venture Atoms

2026-03-13 · Source: AI – SiliconANGLE · Field: Technology & Digital — Robotics & Autonomous Systems, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, quick

Summary

Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber, has launched a new robotics startup named Atoms Inc. The company is built upon the assets of City Storage Systems Inc., which Kalanick founded in 2016 and has raised over $1 billion. Atoms will also integrate Pronto AI Inc., an autonomous driving startup in which Kalanick is the primary investor. City Storage Systems' assets include CloudKitchens, a ghost kitchen operator, and Otter, a software suite for restaurant order processing. Atoms is developing a 19-foot kitchen robot called the Bowl Builder, capable of automating up to 40% of order preparation. Beyond restaurants, Atoms plans to develop robotics for logistics and mining, leveraging Pronto's Level 4 autonomous driving system for haul trucks, which uses GPS, cameras, and radar sensors.

Key takeaway

For product managers evaluating automation solutions in logistics, mining, or food service, consider how specialized robotics, like those from Atoms Inc., can address specific operational bottlenecks. Focus on systems designed for particular tasks, such as autonomous haul trucks or kitchen robots, rather than general-purpose humanoid designs. Your strategy should prioritize targeted automation to achieve measurable efficiency gains in defined workflows.

Key insights

Atoms Inc. aims to deploy specialized robots for productive jobs across various industries, focusing on automation over humanoid forms.

Principles

• Focus on specialized, task-specific robots
• Automate specific manual work percentages

Method

Atoms integrates existing assets like CloudKitchens and Otter software with autonomous driving technology from Pronto AI to develop specialized robots for defined tasks.

In practice

• Utilize Level 4 autonomy for industrial vehicles
• Automate kitchen tasks with robotic systems

Topics

• Robotics
• Autonomous Driving Systems
• Kitchen Automation
• Logistics Robotics
• Mining Automation

Best for: Product Manager, Entrepreneur, Investor, AI Product Manager

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by AI – SiliconANGLE.