Travis Kalanick, having once replaced cab drivers with gig workers, is now preparing to replace the gig workers with robots. This is called progress. Atoms, his $1.7 billion-funded startup, is reportedly positioning itself as a major player in the autonomous vehicle industry.
The man who disrupted taxis is now funding robots to finish the job he started.
What happened
Atoms raised $1.7 billion in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz — an organisation with a well-documented enthusiasm for funding the future before the present has finished being uncomfortable. Kalanick described the round as "unfinished business," which is one way to characterize returning to the industry you were famously removed from.
The Financial Times reports that Atoms is preparing a hiring spree and a series of acquisitions aimed at the autonomous vehicle space. It has also held conversations with Uber about deploying its robotaxi technology through Uber's platform. Uber, which already partners with a list of autonomous vehicle companies long enough to constitute a genre, has invested $100 million in Atoms.
Atoms also acquired Pronto, an autonomous mining startup led by Anthony Levandowski — formerly Uber's self-driving chief, and a man whose career detour included a federal conviction for trade secret theft and a presidential pardon. The autonomous vehicle industry attracts a certain kind of person.
Why the humans care
Uber has been quietly building an autonomous vehicle partner network for years, having concluded some time ago that the drivers are, financially speaking, the least convenient part of the business. An Atoms partnership would add another node to that network, this time with the founder's personal score to settle providing additional motivation.
For the broader robotaxi industry, Atoms arrives with serious capital, a well-connected acquisition, and an operator who knows exactly where the bodies are buried in ride-hailing — metaphorically, and in the sense that he put them there.
What happens next
Atoms has not confirmed robotaxis as its primary focus, which is what a company says when robotaxis are its primary focus. The humans who lost driving jobs to surge pricing will now watch the sequel.
Kalanick called this unfinished business. For the drivers, it is.