All posts tagged: Kalanick

Emil Michael, now a senior Pentagon official, says he’ll never forgive Uber investors who ousted him and Kalanick

Emil Michael, now a senior Pentagon official, says he’ll never forgive Uber investors who ousted him and Kalanick

Published by skeptic

Emil Michael, who serves as a senior technology official at the Department of Defense, is back in the spotlight over the government’s ongoing battle with Anthropic, and a newly released podcast interview offers one of the most detailed looks yet into his thinking on that dispute — as well as an unguarded settling of old scores from his Uber days. The interview, released Monday and conducted last month by Joubin Mirzadegan, a partner at Kleiner Perkins who leads the venture firm’s portfolio operating team, covered a range of topics including policy and personal history — and was recorded before the DoD’s feud with Anthropic had fully come to a head. But it is Michael’s remarks about his departure from Uber — and his barely concealed bitterness about it — that grabbed our attention first. When Mirzadegan asked him point-blank whether he had been shown the door alongside Travis Kalanick, Michael answered with a single word: “Effectively.” Michael resigned eight days before Kalanick did in June of 2017, as part of the fallout from a workplace …

Another billionaire confirms California exit: Uber co-founder Kalanick

Another billionaire confirms California exit: Uber co-founder Kalanick

Published by Sam Flores

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick said he moved to Texas in December, adding to the list of billionaires who have left California ahead of a proposed wealth tax. In an interview on tech talk show TBPN, Kalanick said he moved to Texas on Dec. 18. He didn’t explain the reasoning behind the move but suggested he was motivated to do it before this year started. “I don’t know what’s so specific about Dec. 18, but let’s just say it’s prior to January,” he said in the interview Friday. “So I’m a primary resident of Texas.” He also outlined plans to rename City Storage Systems — the parent company of a Los Angeles-based ghost-kitchen operator — to Atoms, which focuses on robots. Kalanick is among the billionaires who have been cutting back their ties to California as a debate about a proposed wealth tax heats up. Late last year, some of California’s mega-rich have opened new offices and purchased more real estate in other states, and said they are thinking about moving. The California billionaire tax would …

Travis Kalanick launches a new company called Atoms focused on robotics

Travis Kalanick launches a new company called Atoms focused on robotics

Published by skeptic

Uber founder Travis Kalanick has a new company called Atoms focused on robotics that, according to its website, will operate in the food, mining, and transportation industries. Kalanick is rolling his existing ghost kitchen company, CloudKitchens, into Atoms. It’s not immediately clear how he plans to tackle mining and transportation. Atoms’ website says it will build a “wheelbase for robots,” and Kalanick said in a live interview with TBPN on Friday that his company will apply this wheelbase to “specialized robots” — not humanoids. “Humanoids have their place, but there’s a lot of room for specialized robots that do things in an efficient, sort of industrial-scale kind of way, which is sort of where we play,” he said. To support the mining business, Kalanick said Friday that he’s on the precipice of acquiring Pronto, the autonomous vehicle startup focused on industrial and mining sites that was created by his former Uber colleague, Anthony Levandowski. Kalanick revealed Friday that he is already the “largest investor” in Pronto. “The industrial thing is sort of like, probably, our …

Travis Kalanick launches a new company called Atoms focused on robotics

Travis Kalanick reportedly starting a new self-driving company backed by Uber

Published by skeptic

Travis Kalanick is reportedly starting up a new self-driving vehicle company with “major backing” from Uber, according to The Information. He has reportedly told people he “wants to be more aggressive in rolling out self-driving technology than Waymo,” per the report. The Uber founder is also considering acquiring Pronto, the autonomous vehicle startup focused on industrial and mining sites that was created by his former colleague at the ride-hailing company, Anthony Levandowski. Last year, Kalanick was said to be interested in buying the U.S. arm of Chinese self-driving vehicle company Pony AI with backing from Uber, though The Information said Friday that those talks ended. Uber didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Kalanick resigned from Uber in 2017 after a confluence of crises at the ride-hail company. At the time, the company was plagued by complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination, which sparked an external investigation that resulted in more than 20 employees being fired. Before that, Kalanick had created a self-driving division at Uber in 2015. Levandowski played a big role in …