Uber's Founder Is Back — Building Robotaxis This Time

Travis Kalanick, the co-founder who was forced out of Uber in 2017, is building a new company called Atoms that is now preparing to enter the robotaxi business, according to a Financial Times report published September 6, 2026. The FT also reported that Atoms has held discussions with Uber about how the ride-hailing company could deploy the startup's self-driving taxi technology.

A robotaxi is a taxi that drives itself, with no human behind the wheel. Companies like Waymo already offer these rides in several U.S. cities, and Tesla is working toward its own version. Atoms wants to build the technology that would make self-driving taxis possible, and Uber could be the company that dispatches them to riders through its app.

Uber has invested $100 million in Atoms, a figure previously confirmed by TechCrunch and corroborated by the FT. The investment and the technology discussions together suggest a path by which Atoms-built self-driving vehicles could appear within Uber's ride-hailing network rather than as a separate consumer brand.

Atoms launched publicly in March 2026, when TechCrunch reported that Kalanick had renamed his company and oriented it around specialized industrial robotics, initially focused on automating tasks in the mining sector. Reuters separately reported the same day that the company was designed around specialized robotics for mining. At the time of launch, Atoms' website referenced the food sector, and Kalanick said he wanted the company to work on mining, food, and transportation. His existing ghost kitchen company CloudKitchens was to be rolled into Atoms.

In summer 2026, Atoms announced a $1.7 billion funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz to develop what the company described as physical AI for major industrial sectors, per PYMNTS. Physical AI means artificial intelligence that controls machines in the physical world — like a self-driving car — rather than software that only exists on a computer or phone. TechCrunch has described Atoms as a rebranded holding company sitting atop Kalanick's various robotics and mobility ventures.

The company has also been assembling talent with direct Uber lineage. In August 2026, TechCrunch reported that Atoms had appointed a former Uber finance chief as CFO. And Atoms acquired Pronto, an autonomous mining startup led by Anthony Levandowski, who had previously headed Uber's self-driving efforts before his conviction for stealing trade secrets and subsequent sentencing to 18 months in prison. Levandowski was later pardoned by President Donald Trump.

The FT reported that Kalanick is now eyeing a return to the ride-hailing market through robotaxi development at Atoms, reuniting with former colleagues in the process. The combination of a $1.7 billion funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, a $100 million Uber strategic investment, a CFO drawn from Uber's finance organization, and the acquisition of a company led by Uber's former autonomous driving chief places an unusual concentration of Uber-era relationships inside a single new entity.

The broader context here is that Atoms started with industrial robotics as its framing, not consumer mobility. Mining and food automation are areas where the environment is more controlled, the rules are lighter, and the path to making money is arguably shorter. A pivot or expansion into self-driving taxis would shift the company into a category with far higher costs, stricter safety requirements, and a patchwork of regulations that vary by city and state. The FT report frames the robotaxi push as preparatory, involving hiring and acquisitions, rather than a product launch, which suggests the company is still in the build phase.

For Uber, the calculus is different. Uber has pursued an asset-light autonomous strategy, partnering with multiple self-driving car developers rather than building its own technology outright. An investment in Atoms, coupled with technology deployment discussions, would be consistent with that pattern, giving Uber another potential supplier of self-driving ride capacity without the cost of developing the technology in-house.

Several key details remain unreported, including the scale of the planned hiring spree, the specific acquisition targets beyond the completed Pronto deal, and any timeline for robotaxi deployment. The FT's reporting establishes intent and early-stage discussions rather than commitments or product plans.