| Starsky Robotics | |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | Autonomous robotics (robotics, manufacturing, logistics) |
| Foundation: | 2016 |
| Location: | San Francisco |
| Key People: |
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| Homepage: | starsky.io (archived) |
Starsky Robotics was an autonomous truck company founded in 2016. It developed trucks to drive without a person in the vehicle. The company started in 2015 and had raised $21.7 million by 2018. It failed to find further investors in November 2019, and shut down by March 2020.[1]
In 2017, Starsky Robotics announced that it had raised $5 million from Y Combinator, Sam Altman, Trucks VC, and Data Collective to create an autonomous trucking company.[2] In 2018, company closed a $16.5 million Series A, led by Shasta Ventures.[3]
In February 2018, Starsky Robotics completed a 7-mile fully driverless trip in Florida without a single human in the truck.[4] Starsky is the first company to publicly test an empty cabin for autonomous trucks.[5]
In November 2019 over 85% of staff were laid off after the company failed to find further investment, due to concerns over the financial stability of its freight-hauling arm.[6] By March 2020 the company sold off the remaining assets, including patents relating to operating remote vehicles.[1]
The company developed proprietary technology that allowed drivers to remotely pilot trucks from a central headquarters.[7] [8] The company successfully completed full deliveries with 85% autonomy.[9] [10] Starsky Robotics’ system worked to solve the issue of final-mile delivery by removing drivers from the cab entirely and putting them in an office where they could remotely operate the truck from terminal to delivery.[11]