Uber Could Partner With Travis Kalanick Again—This Time on Autonomous Vehicles

Uber may once again work with its controversial co‑founder Travis Kalanick—this time on autonomous vehicles.

In a recent interview, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Uber is open to collaborating with Kalanick on self‑driving technology if the opportunity makes sense. The comment is notable because Kalanick was forced out as CEO in 2017 after a series of corporate scandals, and the company has largely moved forward without him since then.

Yet the relationship never completely disappeared. According to Khosrowshahi, Uber is already working with Kalanick through Uber Eats and Kalanick’s ghost‑kitchen company CloudKitchens, suggesting that further collaboration—including around autonomy—could be possible.

Uber and Kalanick Already Work Together Through CloudKitchens

Khosrowshahi pointed out that Uber’s delivery arm already interacts with Kalanick’s current business ecosystem.

CloudKitchens, the food‑delivery infrastructure company Kalanick built after leaving Uber, provides kitchen facilities and tools for delivery‑focused restaurant brands. These operations often rely on delivery platforms such as Uber Eats to reach customers.

Because of that overlap, the companies already have a practical business relationship in the food delivery market—even though Kalanick no longer plays a role inside Uber itself.

Khosrowshahi said that if new opportunities appear in other areas, Uber would seriously consider working together again.

What Is Atoms, Kalanick’s New Robotics Company?

Kalanick recently revealed a new venture called Atoms, a robotics and automation company that grew out of the infrastructure he built for CloudKitchens.

Rather than chasing humanoid robots, Atoms is focused on specialized industrial machines designed to automate repetitive tasks in major industries.

The company is targeting three main sectors:

• Food service: applying automation to restaurant operations and food preparation.
• Mining: using autonomous vehicles and robotics to improve productivity in industrial sites.
• Transportation: developing robotic systems that could eventually expand into logistics and mobility.

A major step in that strategy was Atoms’ acquisition of Pronto, an autonomous‑vehicle startup founded by former Google and Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski.

Pronto’s technology—focused on autonomous systems for industrial environments such as mining—now forms the core of Atoms’ mining automation division.

The goal is to deploy purpose‑built machines that can operate continuously in controlled environments where automation can produce clear cost savings.

How a Future Uber–Atoms Partnership Could Fit

If Uber and Kalanick were to collaborate on autonomous vehicles, it would align with Uber’s current strategy in the self‑driving market.

After spending billions developing its own autonomous technology, Uber sold its in‑house self‑driving unit in 2020 and shifted toward a platform partnership model—letting specialized AV companies build the vehicles while Uber provides riders and demand.

Today, Uber is working with multiple autonomous‑vehicle developers, including:

• Waymo: Uber’s platform will dispatch Waymo robotaxis in cities such as Austin and Atlanta.
• May Mobility: a strategic partnership aims to deploy thousands of autonomous vehicles on Uber’s network, beginning with Arlington, Texas.
• Motional: the companies launched robotaxi rides in Las Vegas using autonomous Hyundai IONIQ 5 vehicles.

This approach positions Uber less as a robotics developer and more as the marketplace that connects riders with autonomous fleets.

The Bigger Picture for Uber’s Autonomous Strategy

Khosrowshahi has repeatedly described a future where autonomous vehicles plug into Uber’s network much like human drivers do today—while Uber handles routing, demand aggregation, payments, and logistics.

In that framework, Uber doesn’t need to build every self‑driving system itself. Instead, it can integrate multiple partners’ vehicles into the same global platform.

A collaboration with Kalanick’s Atoms—if it ever happens—would simply be another example of that strategy: Uber supplying the marketplace and riders, while a partner provides the autonomous technology.

For now, the idea remains hypothetical. But the fact that Uber’s current CEO publicly left the door open to working again with the company’s founder shows how much the industry’s priorities—and relationships—have shifted as the race for autonomous mobility accelerates.