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Travis Kalanick Launches Atoms to Build Specialized Robots for Food, Mining and Transport

The venture follows an eight-year stealth buildout that rebrands City Storage Systems into a platform pursuing a Pronto acquisition.

Overview

  • Kalanick is folding ghost‑kitchen operator CloudKitchens into Atoms as part of a broader push into physical automation.
  • The company plans a modular "wheelbase for robots" focused on task‑specific, non‑humanoid machines.
  • Atoms is structured into three units — Atoms Food, Atoms Mining and Atoms Transport — aimed at industrial infrastructure and productivity.
  • Kalanick says he is Pronto’s largest investor and is close to acquiring the industrial autonomy startup founded by Anthony Levandowski.
  • Reports of major backing from Uber for self‑driving efforts were cited by The Information, though Uber has not confirmed the support.