After years away from the startup spotlight, Travis Kalanick, the co-founder and former CEO of Uber, has unveiled a new venture called Atoms, signaling his return to building cutting-edge technology companies. The startup is focused on developing specialized industrial robots designed to automate tasks across industries such as mining, transport, and food services.
The launch represents a new chapter for Kalanick, who left Uber in 2017 amid investor pressure after a turbulent period for the ride-hailing company. Nearly a decade later, he is channeling his entrepreneurial energy into robotics and automation—an area many believe will define the next wave of industrial productivity.
Credits: Reuters
A Pivot From Cloud Kitchens To Robotics
Atoms is essentially an evolution of City Storage Systems, the startup Kalanick began building after departing Uber. City Storage Systems initially focused on infrastructure solutions for food delivery, including the development of “ghost kitchens”—shared kitchen spaces designed to support delivery-first restaurant brands.
Now, Kalanick is expanding that vision beyond food delivery into the broader industrial world. By rebranding and restructuring the company as Atoms, he aims to build what he calls “atoms-based computers,” or physical systems powered by artificial intelligence that can perform real-world tasks.
According to Kalanick, these machines will combine robotics and AI to automate physical work, improving productivity in industries where labor shortages, efficiency challenges, and rising costs are common.
Why Specialized Robots Could Win
Instead of building humanoid robots that can perform many different tasks, Atoms is focusing on specialized machines designed for specific jobs.
Kalanick believes this approach offers a clearer path to profitability. “Gainfully employed robots are the machines best suited for the job at hand, that can make a living doing it,” he said in a statement.
This strategy contrasts with many robotics companies racing to build general-purpose humanoid robots capable of performing a wide range of tasks. While these robots attract significant attention, they face major technical challenges—including navigating unpredictable environments and developing advanced reasoning capabilities.
Specialized robots, on the other hand, are easier to design and deploy because they focus on a single problem or workflow. This makes them more practical for industries that urgently need automation.
Three Key Business Units
To tackle different industrial use cases, Atoms will operate through three main divisions.
Atoms Food will focus on infrastructure and automation for the food industry. This builds on Kalanick’s experience with delivery kitchens and aims to make food production and distribution more efficient.
Atoms Mining will develop robotic systems to increase productivity and safety in mining operations. Automation in mining has become a major focus globally as companies look to reduce costs and limit human exposure to hazardous environments.
Atoms Transport will focus on mobility platforms for robots, which Kalanick described as a “wheelbase for robots.” This division aims to create systems that help robots move efficiently across industrial settings such as warehouses, factories, and logistics hubs.
Together, these divisions reflect Atoms’ ambition to tackle automation across multiple heavy industries rather than focusing on a single niche.
Rising Demand For Industrial Automation
The launch of Atoms comes at a time when interest in industrial robotics is accelerating worldwide. Businesses across sectors—including logistics, waste management, manufacturing, and mining—are increasingly investing in automation to improve efficiency and reduce reliance on human labor.
Advances in artificial intelligence, sensors, and computing power are making robots more capable and cost-effective than ever before. As a result, companies are looking for technologies that can perform repetitive or dangerous tasks reliably.
Kalanick’s bet is that robots built for specific economic roles—machines that can immediately generate value—will see faster adoption than experimental humanoid robots.
A Founder Back To His “Calling”
For Kalanick, Atoms also represents a personal comeback story. After leaving Uber in 2017 and stepping down from its board in 2019, he described the experience as deeply painful.
On Atoms’ website, he wrote that he felt “heartbroken” after leaving the company he helped build. But he now believes robotics offers an opportunity to return to what he calls his “calling”—building transformative technology companies.
Whether Atoms can achieve the same disruptive impact that Uber had on transportation remains to be seen. But with automation poised to reshape industries worldwide, Kalanick is once again betting big on technology to transform how work gets done.
