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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

#12
post #2

Wow... 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.

Oct 21, 2019 https://www.axios.com/zoox-self-driving-car-fundraising-52aa...

Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors

#13
post #12

Earlier 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.

Oct 21, 2019 https://www.axios.com/zoox-self-driving-car-fundraising-52aa...

That's the bridge round while the close the actual round, as it says in the article you linked.

Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors

#15
post #2

Wow... 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 produ…

Forgot it was them who did it, thanks for reminding me.

Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors

#16
post #5

Earlier 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.

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)

Cruise has GM manufacturing behind it, too.

Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors

#17
post #14

Why couldn’t they raise more money or get acquired? I thought self-driving car startups were worth $1mil per engineer (at least!) in an acquihire let alone semi-functional tech. Was it a scam?

https://www.ccjdigital.com/starksy-robotics-wraps-nearly-10-... It's possible that they relied too much on remote assistance. Really hard to say what state their tech is in and what stage investors want to see before putting in cash.

Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors

#18
post #16
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

Cruise has GM manufacturing behind it, too.

One reason having an OEM backing is one of the only ways to survive in this space.

Re: Mass layoffs reported after Starsky Robotics fails to find buyer, investors

#19
Wow, I interviewed with Starsky for a summer internship position back around the beginning of December. The interview went well, but I never heard back from them. I just assumed that I didn't quite clear the bar, but it looks like they got the news that funding wasn't coming (timetable from the article matches up) and just shut hiring down.

During the interview I asked my interviewer about Starsky's long-term prospects, and he said that they would have near doubled in size come summer. Lol

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