Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
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Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
#2Wow... that was pretty unexpected.
But to be honest they haven't done anything too notable within the last year (Plus.ai is pretty much the biggest thing I can think of right now and maybe Ike in the trucking space).
Really interesting to see how everything in the AV space plays out: Deepscale/Drive.ai were both aquihires, Cruise/Torc/Argo/Aurora were bought out mostly, and the others are either just starting (Ghost and Voyage) or doing something that aids them (Renovo).
So essentially: either you're bought out by an OEM or funded by VCs hoping to get acquired (I don't think you can surivive in this space without being bought out or aquihired).
Disclaimer: I worked at Renovo.
Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
#3Wow... that was pretty unexpected. But to be honest they haven't done anything too notable within the last year (Plus.ai is pretty much the biggest thing I can think of right now and maybe Ike in the trucking space). Really interesting to see how everything in the AV space plays out: Deepscale/Drive.ai were both aquihires, Cruise/Torc/Argo/Aurora were bought out mostly, and the others are either just starting (Ghost…
Zoox was supposed to announce a new funding round by the end of last year, and still crickets. The further into 2020 we get the more I think they might not get any more money.
Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
#4The article omits the size of the company. Apparently 54 people were employed at some point[1]. LinkedIn now lists 36 employees[2].
1: https://www.google.com/search?q=company+info+starsky+robotic...
Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
#5Wow... that was pretty unexpected. But to be honest they haven't done anything too notable within the last year (Plus.ai is pretty much the biggest thing I can think of right now and maybe Ike in the trucking space). Really interesting to see how everything in the AV space plays out: Deepscale/Drive.ai were both aquihires, Cruise/Torc/Argo/Aurora were bought out mostly, and the others are either just starting (Ghost…
Zoox was supposed to announce a new funding round by the end of last year, and still crickets. The further into 2020 we get the more I think they might not get any more money.
I actually loved what they were (and still are doing).The only thing that concerns me about them is this:
1. Ousted one of their CEOs the day they got funding (something dirty like this)
2. Making their own car (which I guess isn't too far fetched, but Cruise seems to be much further along even though they did the whole thing in secrecy)
Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
#6The article omits the size of the company. Apparently 54 people were employed at some point[1]. LinkedIn now lists 36 employees[2]. 1: https://www.google.com/search?q=company+info+starsky+robotic... 2: https://www.linkedin.com/company/starsky-robotics/
Starsky was definitely hiring. They posted on every "Who's Hiring" on HN for a considerable amount of time.
Unsure if it was ever 54, but they definitely were aggressive in hiring (job postings also kind of reflected that).
Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
#7Wow... that was pretty unexpected. But to be honest they haven't done anything too notable within the last year (Plus.ai is pretty much the biggest thing I can think of right now and maybe Ike in the trucking space). Really interesting to see how everything in the AV space plays out: Deepscale/Drive.ai were both aquihires, Cruise/Torc/Argo/Aurora were bought out mostly, and the others are either just starting (Ghost…
Zoox was supposed to announce a new funding round by the end of last year, and still crickets. The further into 2020 we get the more I think they might not get any more money.
Just checked out the demos on their website. I have always been curious what graphics they use to represent what car sees. Are there any open source versions of these out there to explore ?
Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Zoox was supposed to announce a new funding round by the end of last year, and still crickets. The further into 2020 we get the more I think they might not get any more money.
Just checked out the demos on their website. I have always been curious what graphics they use to represent what car sees. Are there any open source versions of these out there to explore ?
All this stuff is internal.
However, there is always Uber AVS (avs.auto).
Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Zoox was supposed to announce a new funding round by the end of last year, and still crickets. The further into 2020 we get the more I think they might not get any more money.
Just checked out the demos on their website. I have always been curious what graphics they use to represent what car sees. Are there any open source versions of these out there to explore ?
Stiching cams like this has started to hit the back up camera market. Takes a few hours of setup. Stop at an RV dealer and check out the cams systems on the $$$$ units.
Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors
#10Wow... that was pretty unexpected. But to be honest they haven't done anything too notable within the last year (Plus.ai is pretty much the biggest thing I can think of right now and maybe Ike in the trucking space). Really interesting to see how everything in the AV space plays out: Deepscale/Drive.ai were both aquihires, Cruise/Torc/Argo/Aurora were bought out mostly, and the others are either just starting (Ghost…
sdan:
> But to be honest they haven't done anything too notable within the last year
Per the article:
> The company was the first to complete a fully unmanned truck trip on a 9.4-mile stretch of public highway and claims to have set a speed record for an unmanned truck, reaching 55 mph, in June 2019.
I'll admit that their telepresence human driver isn't ideal for self-driving vehicles. Its strategic merits, and product merits are very arguable. But it does follow a familiar model in automation progression, and I'd imagine that quite a few investors would have been interested. Likely just came down to timing and potentially valuation or other details. Can really hurt when an investor pulls back at the last minute.
See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22013700 for a take on that from baremetrics founder.