Latest news with #KyleVogt
Reuters
21-03-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Exclusive: Former Cruise CEO Vogt's robotics startup valued at $2 billion in new funding, sources say
(Reuters) March 21 - Kyle Vogt, former CEO of self-driving car company Cruise, has raised $150 million in a new funding round led by Greenoaks for his robotics startup The Bot Company, valuing the firm launched less than a year ago at $2 billion, sources told Reuters. This capital injection follows a previous $150 million raised from investors such as Spark Capital and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman that valued the company at $550 million, sources added, as it is trying to build out the hardware and artificial intelligence-based software to power the robots. It reflects investors' confidence in a company that has yet to release its product and has no revenue, as the appeal lies in the potential of robotics powered by AI models that can learn to do new tasks, which have captured Silicon Valley's imagination. The boom in large language models is significantly boosting interest in robotics, as LLMs enable robots to process natural language commands and perform complex tasks, which could make robots more intuitive and adaptive for use cases at home or on factory floors. Robotics startups, with various form factors, are attracting substantial funding and attention, marking a new era of intelligent and adaptive robots. The Bot Company was co-founded by Vogt, Paril Jain, and Luke Holoubek, former engineers at Tesla and GM-owned Cruise. It aims to create at-home robots that assist individuals with daily tasks, such as household chores. While little is known about the design, sources indicate they are non-humanoid robots equipped with a base and grips. Both The Bot Company and Greenoaks declined to comment. Much of the excitement in the space is also spurred by humanoid-focused players like Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab and startups such as Figure, which is currently raising funding at $40 billion with little revenue. Cobot, founded by Amazon veteran Brad Porter, has also raised $146 million for non-humanoid robots that focus on industrial automation. The capital required to build and scale underscores the complexities in developing robots that integrate into day-to-day operations. At-home robotics is a category where tech giants like Amazon have already invested significantly. Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab launched its home robot, Astro, in 2021, focusing on home monitoring and entertainment capabilities. Last year, it decided to discontinue Astro for Business to focus solely on household robots. Two other robot startups, Physical Intelligence and 1x, have also raised hundreds of millions to create robots capable of daily household tasks like folding laundry and cleaning countertops. Vogt and his co-founders are part of a growing pool of talent returning to the robotics space from self-driving. Many startups in this sector aim to move beyond imitation learning to more action-based AI models inspired by large language models, enabling robots to learn movements more efficiently beyond the pre-programmed routines. The investment in The Bot Company reflects the growing interest in robotics startups, particularly those leveraging AI and spatial intelligence. Last year, VC investors poured $6.1 billion into robotics, up 19% from 2023, according to PitchBook. Besides the Bot Company, Greenoaks has previously invested in another robotics startup Mytra which focuses on industrial tasks. The San Francisco-based investor has underwritten billion-dollar valuations for young players such as customer service startup Sierra and Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence Inc. It stands to reap $2 billion from its $300 million investment in Wiz's $32 billion sale to Google this week, according to a source.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Pour one out for Cruise and why autonomous vehicle test miles dropped 50%
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! We knew this day was coming: Cruise is dead — at least as a robotaxi company. General Motors completed its acquisition of GM Cruise Holdings LLC; Cruise is now a wholly owned subsidiary of GM. The upshot is a 50% reduction in staff — that's about 1,000 people. The next step is to integrate the remaining employees into the folds of GM, where they'll work on improving the automaker's advanced driver-assistance system. Among my many questions about this is whether GM will successfully retain the remaining talent, most of whom I have been told are engineers. And will that fresh talent translate into an improved advanced driver-assistance system, branded as Super Cruise, and eventually personal autonomous vehicles? I'm not convinced that acquiring talent — who were inspired by and loyal to Cruise's now departed co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt — is a good match. But hey, I've been wrong before. Over the years, I've spoken to lots of Cruise engineers, and every time I would walk away thinking, 'Well, there's a true believer.' I haven't met every Cruise employee, but the ones I have exuded a belief in the autonomous vehicle mission and seemed thrilled to be working long hours to achieve it. For any current and former Cruisers out there, reach out. I would love to talk about the early days with you. Email me at A few more little birds came to us from Cruise in recent days. Much of the communication centered on the impending layoffs, which I addressed above. But I thought this was an interesting nugget from sources who shared how they thought — at least for a time — Cruise might restart its robotaxi operations. One indicator was this tidbit from sources who told us that Cruise had been ready to implement a retrofitted sensor solution, internally referred to as Project Rhino, that would have solved for the October 2 incident by creating additional visibility and awareness underneath the car. The 'incident' is in reference to an event in 2023 when a pedestrian, who had initially been hit by a human-driven car, got stuck under and then dragged by one of the company's robotaxis. Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at Sean O'Kane at or Rebecca Bellan at Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop. Just a bunch of deals this week! Applied Intuition acquired EpiSys Science Inc., a company that developed autonomy software for national security, including uncrewed aerial systems, surface warfare, maritime tracking, and battle management command and control. Terms were not disclosed. Applied Intuition is perhaps best known as an autonomous vehicle software company; lately it has been pushing deeper into defense. GenLogs, a startup that developed freight intelligence software, raised $14.6 million in a Series A funding round led by Venrock and HOF Capital. Steel Atlas, AutoTech Ventures, Venture 53, TitletownTech, Plug and Play Ventures, and Heartland Ventures also participated in the round. Presto, a startup that says it's building the Stripe of EV charging, raised $15 million in a seed round led by Union Square Ventures, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The round also included investments from Congruent Ventures, Jetstream, and Powerhouse Ventures. We covered Tesla earnings in last week's edition but wanted to flag this article by Sean O'Kane, which reminds us of all the promises Elon Musk has made around his Full Self-Driving software and his recent admission that some of its vehicles will, in fact, need a hardware upgrade. The California Department of Motor Vehicles released data that shows a 50% drop in autonomous vehicle test miles. Yes, the end of Cruise is partially responsible. But there are other factors at play. Here's what else is going on. Waabi has partnered with Volvo Autonomous Solutions to jointly develop and deploy autonomous trucks. Reminder: Volvo also has a deal with Aurora. Waymo is now showing up on the Uber app in Austin. For now, this doesn't translate into a Waymo picking people up. But it will soon. The Chicago Auto Show is under way, and while most — like the Subaru Forester Hybrid — are mild hybrids or internal combustion engine-powered vehicles, there were EVs, too. Stellantis revealed the all-electric 2025 Jeep Wagoneer S Limited trim that starts at $66,995 and has an estimated range of 294 miles. Ford reported earnings this week and, welp, its EV business lost about $5 billion in 2024. But that wasn't the only thing that caught my eye. Instead, it was CEO Jim Farley's comments on tariffs. Scout Motors, the Volkswagen spinout that plans to produce all-electric and range-extended electric trucks and SUVs, was sued by a group of VW and Audi dealers in Florida over its plan to sell directly to consumers. Lyft has partnered with AI startup Anthropic to build an AI assistant that handles initial intake for customer service inquiries for both riders and drivers. This is an interesting feature on a startup called Circularity Fuels, which will make diamonds on its path to creating e-fuels to power jet planes. This week, we'll hear from TechCrunch reporter Rebecca Bellan and her time driving a 2024 Kia Niro. (Please note that the photo above is of a 2025 model.) I rented a 2024 Kia Niro over the weekend to drive a couple hours north of New York City. It's a cute, zippy SUV, but I struggled in two areas needed for a road trip: battery life in winter and the location of the volume button/knob. It only took about an hour and a half of driving, or about 70 miles, for the battery to go from fully charged to half empty. This kicked my anxiety into gear, as I wasn't sure where in the sticks of Connecticut I'd be able to find a charger. I found one, in the end, a lone EVgo charger in a Planet Fitness parking lot. 'Marsha' was advertised to charge at 50 kW but ended up drip feeding my battery at a shocking pace of 17 kW. Let's just say, I sat in that parking lot for a while. The volume button or knob was also conspicuously absent. This is my biggest pet peeve with software-defined vehicles: the obsession with touch screens instead of tactile knobs that you can manipulate while you're driving so you don't have to take your eyes off the road. Neither I, nor any one of my passengers, were able to figure out how to adjust the volume without using the button on the wheel. I finally just googled 'Kia Niro volume' and sure enough I found a Reddit post that I could have written myself. Apparently, one must tap the 'button' above the orange fan to change out of climate control mode, and then one can use the left temperature knob to change the volume. Unbelievable. What is 'This week's wheels'? It's a chance to learn about the different transportation products we're testing, whether it's an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle. Sign in to access your portfolio
