Uber’s New Drive: Kalanick Launches Fresh Self‑Driving Venture

Travis Kalanick, the former Uber chief, is starting a new company that will build self‑driving cars. He says he wants to push the technology faster than competitors like Waymo. Uber is reportedly giving the project strong financial support. Kalanick’s plan includes buying Pronto, a startup that makes autonomous vehicles for factories and mines. He also once tried to buy the U. S. side of a Chinese self‑driving firm called Pony AI, but that deal fell through.The move comes after Kalanick left Uber in 2017. His departure followed a series of scandals, including complaints of harassment and discrimination that led to an investigation and many firings. Earlier, he had created Uber’s self‑driving unit in 2015 and hired former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski to help. That partnership caused a lawsuit, because Google accused Uber of stealing its autonomous‑car secrets. After Kalanick left, the project survived for a while. In 2018, one of Uber’s test cars hit and killed a pedestrian. The new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, shut down the division and sold it to Aurora, a trucking‑tech company, in 2020. In March 2025, Kalanick said he regretted Uber abandoning its own self‑driving efforts. Now he is back on the scene, hoping to bring a fresh approach to autonomous driving with Uber’s backing.