Ex-Uber CEO launches robotics startup ‘Atoms’ for mining, transport, and food automation

With Atoms, Kalanick is betting that task-specific machines are the key to improving industrial productivity.

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick on Friday, March 13, launched a startup called Atoms that is focused on specialised industrial robotics designed to automate tasks in the mining, transport, and food sectors.

Atoms appears to be the expanded and re-branded version of Kalanick’s existing venture, City Storage Systems, which is the parent of ghost-kitchen operator CloudKitchens.

With Atoms, Kalanick is betting that task-specific machines are the key to improving industrial productivity. The startup will be divided into Atoms Food, providing infrastructure for the food ⁠industry, ‌Atoms Mining, focusing on increasing mine productivity, ​and Atoms Transport or a “wheelbase for robots” as described by Kalanick in the 1,700-word mission statement on the new Atoms website.

In an appearance on the TBPN podcast on Friday, the tech billionaire further said that Atoms has been operating in stealth for eight years with “thousands of employees.”

The announcement comes amid rising interest in physical AI and general-purpose humanoid robots. However, these robots faces challenges such as how to teach machines to navigate unpredictable environments and develop sophisticated ⁠reasoning abilities.

Meanwhile, specialised robots could offer a clearer path to profitability, given the stress on automation across industries such as transport and waste management. Kalanick has described his calling post-Uber as building atoms-based computers, which are said to be specialised systems using physical AI to automate tasks ​in the real world.

Stating that he was heartbroken after his exit from Uber, Kalanick wrote, “I bled, but I did not perish. I got back up and fought my way back into the arena, back to my calling. Back to building.”

“Today we expand our physical world computation portfolio to the Mining and Transport industries and rename the company Atoms. At Atoms we make gainfully employed robots — specialised robots with productive jobs that bring abundance to their owners and society at large,” he added.

Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009. He ended up resigning as CEO of Uber in 2017, reportedly due to pressure ​from investors, ​capping a ​tumultuous period for the ride-services company. In 2019, he left the company ​board.

After being forced to resign from Uber, Kalanick joined City Storage Systems as CEO the following year and grew the company into a reported $15 billion valuation by 2022.

City Storage Systems is the parent firm of CloudKitchens, which operates a network of commercial kitchens that can be used by eateries, large and small, to help with delivery, pickup and food production. The CloudKitchens website is still live, as per CNBC.

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick on Friday, March 13, launched a startup called Atoms that is focused on specialised industrial robotics designed to automate tasks in the mining, transport, and food sectors.

Atoms appears to be the expanded and re-branded version of Kalanick’s existing venture, City Storage Systems, which is the parent of ghost-kitchen operator CloudKitchens.

With Atoms, Kalanick is betting that task-specific machines are the key to improving industrial productivity. The startup will be divided into Atoms Food, providing infrastructure for the food ⁠industry, ‌Atoms Mining, focusing on increasing mine productivity, ​and Atoms Transport or a “wheelbase for robots” as described by Kalanick in the 1,700-word mission statement on the new Atoms website.

In an appearance on the TBPN podcast on Friday, the tech billionaire further said that Atoms has been operating in stealth for eight years with “thousands of employees.”

The announcement comes amid rising interest in physical AI and general-purpose humanoid robots. However, these robots faces challenges such as how to teach machines to navigate unpredictable environments and develop sophisticated ⁠reasoning abilities.

Meanwhile, specialised robots could offer a clearer path to profitability, given the stress on automation across industries such as transport and waste management. Kalanick has described his calling post-Uber as building atoms-based computers, which are said to be specialised systems using physical AI to automate tasks ​in the real world.

Stating that he was heartbroken after his exit from Uber, Kalanick wrote, “I bled, but I did not perish. I got back up and fought my way back into the arena, back to my calling. Back to building.”

“Today we expand our physical world computation portfolio to the Mining and Transport industries and rename the company Atoms. At Atoms we make gainfully employed robots — specialised robots with productive jobs that bring abundance to their owners and society at large,” he added.

Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009. He ended up resigning as CEO of Uber in 2017, reportedly due to pressure ​from investors, ​capping a ​tumultuous period for the ride-services company. In 2019, he left the company ​board.

After being forced to resign from Uber, Kalanick joined City Storage Systems as CEO the following year and grew the company into a reported $15 billion valuation by 2022.

City Storage Systems is the parent firm of CloudKitchens, which operates a network of commercial kitchens that can be used by eateries, large and small, to help with delivery, pickup and food production. The CloudKitchens website is still live, as per CNBC.