Travis Kalanick, The Former Cofounder and CEO of Uber, Plans to Launch a New Robotics and Self-Driving Venture

On Friday, March 13, 2026, The Information reported that Travis Kalanick is reentering the self-driving vehicle space with what it described as “major backing” from Uber. According to the report, Kalanick has told people close to the effort that he intends to pursue a more aggressive rollout of autonomous technology than Waymo. Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Atoms’ website does not reference Uber. The Information also reported that Kalanick had been in discussions about acquiring Pronto, an autonomous trucking startup.

Last year, Kalanick was also reportedly interested in acquiring the U.S. operations of Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai, again with support from Uber. However, The Information reported Friday that those discussions ultimately fell through.

Kalanick stepped down as Uber’s CEO in 2017 following a series of crises at the company. At the time, Uber faced widespread allegations of sexual harassment and workplace discrimination, prompting an external investigation that led to the dismissal of more than 20 employees.

Before that, Kalanick had launched Uber’s self-driving vehicle division in 2015, recruiting engineer Anthony Levandowski from Google to help lead the effort. Uber was later sued by Google for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to its autonomous vehicle program, which eventually became Waymo. The companies ultimately reached a settlement, but Levandowski was criminally charged and sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the case. He later received a pardon from President Donald Trump at the end of Trump’s first term.

Uber continued working on autonomous vehicles after Kalanick’s departure, including after a 2018 incident in which one of its test vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian. Under Kalanick’s successor, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber ultimately shut down the program and sold the unit to autonomous trucking company Aurora in 2020.

In a rare interview in March 2025, Kalanick said he regretted Uber’s decision to abandon development of its own self-driving vehicles.