Uber has invested $100 million in Atoms, the robotics and mobility holding company headed by its former chief executive Travis Kalanick, marking a dramatic reconciliation between the ride-hailing giant and the founder who left under a cloud of controversy nearly a decade ago.
The funding round, led by venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz, raised $1.7 billion for Atoms. Other participants included Bain Capital and Fifth Wall. Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, will join the Atoms board. The investment was actually made six months ago, sources confirmed, though it has only now been disclosed.
Kalanick launched Atoms earlier this year as a rebranded holding company built atop his ghost kitchen project, and immediately moved to acquire Pronto, an industrial automation startup founded by Anthony Levandowski. The pair share a tangled history: in 2016, while Kalanick was still Uber CEO, the company acquired Levandowski's self-driving truck startup Otto. Months later, Waymo sued Uber for trade secret theft, eventually settling on the fifth day of trial.
The deal raises questions about the direction of Atoms, which has so far offered few details about its plans. However, the scale of the investment suggests a major push into autonomous vehicle technology and robotics. For UK businesses and consumers, the development signals that the race to commercialise self-driving technology is intensifying, with deep-pocketed players willing to overlook past controversies to secure a foothold.
Regulators in Britain, including the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), are closely watching the autonomous vehicle sector. The UK government has positioned itself as a leader in self-driving technology, with the Automated Vehicles Act receiving royal assent in 2024. However, the involvement of figures with track records of regulatory clashes may prompt closer scrutiny. Meanwhile, the EU's AI Act, which imposes strict requirements on high-risk AI systems including autonomous driving software, could create additional compliance hurdles for any European expansion.
Industry experts warn that while the capital injection is significant, the technology challenges remain immense. Tesla's recent earnings revealed a 36% drop in paid robotaxi miles quarter-on-quarter, and the company acknowledged it needs to collect specific data from its new Cybercab before deploying it at scale. This suggests that even well-funded players face steep technical barriers before autonomous services become commercially viable in the UK.