Travis Kalanick is eyeing a return to the ride-hailing market by developing robotaxi technology at his new venture Atoms, reuniting with former members of Uber’s autonomous vehicles team. Armed with Atoms’ recent $1.7bn fundraise, he is gearing up for a hiring spree and potential acquisitions. Atoms has held preliminary talks with Uber about using its technology for robotaxis, with Uber investing $100mn in Atoms.

Kalanick has brought on Waymo co-founder Anthony Levandowski to lead autonomous vehicle work. Levandowski, pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2021 after a trade secrets conviction, had his startup Pronto acquired by Atoms in March. Atoms, rebadged from Kalanick’s City Storage Systems, now spans food delivery, point-of-sale, and Lab37 for kitchen automation, with over 2,000 employees.

The company says it has no plans to enter the saturated robotaxi market but will provide technology to partners like Uber. Kalanick said, 'When you fall in love again, you don’t think about the ex very much,' marking his return after leaving Uber in 2017 amid scandal.