After completing a $1.7 billion financing round, Atoms, founded by co-founder Travis Kalanick of Uber, is reportedly set to focus its expansion on the field of autonomous driving. The latest reports indicate that the company is preparing for large-scale recruitment and is considering accelerating its layout through acquisitions, with one of its targets possibly being the business of Robotaxi.

Accelerated expansion begins after financing.

Atoms announced the completion of a $1.7 billion financing round this summer, with Andreessen Horowitz as the lead investor. At that time, Kalanick did not provide detailed information about the specific use of this funds. Now, The Financial Times in the UK has revealed that Atoms is preparing for a new round of expansion, planning to enhance its presence in the autonomous driving industry through talent recruitment and mergers and acquisitions.

From the disclosed information, it appears that Robotaxi is not the only direction for Atoms, but it has become a focal point of external attention. Reports suggest that this arrangement echoes Kalanick's previous description of this round of financing as an "unfinished endeavor."

Has discussed technical integration with Uber.

Reports indicate that Atoms has discussed with Uber how the latter will use its Robotaxi technology in the future. Uber has established partnerships with several autonomous driving companies in recent years, so such discussions about integration are not surprising.

The report also mentioned that Uber has invested $100 million in Atoms. TechCrunch has previously confirmed this investment as well. If the two parties go on to form a deeper collaboration, Atoms may be able to leverage Uber's existing travel platform to enter the commercial market more quickly.

Acquisition of Pronto provides an established team.

Atoms has previously acquired the autonomous driving mining company Pronto. This company was led by Anthony Lewandowski, who formerly headed the autonomous driving business at Uber. This acquisition is seen as an important step in Atoms to obtain autonomous driving technology and team resources.

Levandowski was once convicted of stealing trade secrets and sentenced to 18 months in prison, but was later pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump. This report does not indicate that this background has a direct impact on Atoms's current expansion plans, however, the addition of Pronto means that Atoms now has a ready-made foundation that can be used to advance autonomous driving operations.

Overall, after the significant financing, Atoms is shifting from a relatively vague narrative to a more specific industrial layout. If recruitment, acquisitions, and discussions with Uber continue to progress, the role of this company in the Robotaxi arena may become clearer more quickly.