Starsky Robotics
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. History. 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. In 2018, company closed a $16.5 million Series A, led by Shasta Ventures. In February 2018, Starsky Robotics completed  a 7-mile fully driverless trip in Florida without a single human in the truck. Starsky is the first company to publicly test an empty cabin for autonomous trucks. In June 2019, Starsky Robotics become the first company to operate fully unmanned on public highways at 55MPH with nobody in the cab of the truck. In November 2019 over 85% of staff were laid off after the company failed to find further investment, as concerns mounted over the financial stability of its freight-hauling arm. By March 2020 the company sold off the remaining assets, including patents relating to operating  remote vehicles. Technology. The company developed proprietary technology that allows drivers to remotely pilot trucks from a central headquarters. The company successfully completed full deliveries with 85% autonomy. 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 can remotely operate the truck from terminal to delivery.