Ex-Cruise CEO Raises $150M For Robotics Startup Co-Founded With Longtime Tesla AI Head Who Just Quit
Ex-Cruise CEO Raises $150M For Robotics Startup Co-Founded With Longtime Tesla AI Head Who Just Quit
Former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt has successfully raised $150 million for his latest venture, a robotics startup named The Bot Company.
前克魯斯首席執行官凱爾·沃格特已成功爲其最新合資企業籌集了1.5億美元，這是一家名爲The Bot Company的機器人初創公司。
What Happened: Alongside former Cruise engineer Luke Holoubek and former Tesla AI employee Paril Jain, Vogt launched The Bot Company, which is now valued at $550 million following this recent funding round, according to a Forbes report.
發生了什麼：據《福布斯》報道，沃格特與前郵輪工程師盧克·霍洛貝克和前特斯拉人工智能員工帕里爾·賈恩一起創立了機器人公司，在最近的一輪融資之後，該公司目前的估值爲5.5億美元。
The startup aims to create home robots capable of handling household chores like cleaning and laundry.
這家初創公司旨在創造能夠處理清潔和洗衣等家務的家用機器人。
Key investors in the round include Spark Capital and Nat Friedman, the former GitHub CEO who now manages a significant AI-focused fund. The company's business model is centered on selling these robots directly to consumers, with the added feature of customization through a Discord-like chat server.
該輪融資的主要投資者包括Spark Capital和前GitHub首席執行官納特·弗裏德曼，他現在管理着一家以人工智能爲重點的大型基金。該公司的商業模式以直接向消費者出售這些機器人爲中心，並增加了通過類似Discord的聊天服務器進行定製的功能。
However, this business model could change as the company, which is not yet generating revenue, continues to evolve.
但是，隨着尚未產生收入的公司的持續發展，這種商業模式可能會發生變化。
The founders' previous experience with autonomous vehicles at Cruise and Tesla is anticipated to be advantageous in overcoming the technical challenges of creating independent robots.
預計創始人之前在Cruise和Tesla的自動駕駛汽車方面的經驗將有利於克服製造獨立機器人的技術挑戰。
Why It Matters: Co-founder Jain was a longtime AI manager at Tesla, where he played a significant role in the deployment of Tesla's Full Self-Driving software, which he recently revealed was deployed on approximately 2 million vehicles in the U.S.
爲何重要：聯合創始人賈恩長期在特斯拉擔任人工智能經理，他在特斯拉全自動駕駛軟件的部署中發揮了重要作用。他最近透露，該軟件已部署在美國約200萬輛汽車上。
His experience and expertise in AI and autonomous technology could be instrumental in developing advanced home robots, adding a unique edge to The Bot Company's offerings.
他在人工智能和自主技術方面的經驗和專業知識可能有助於開發先進的家用機器人，爲The Bot Company的產品增添獨特的優勢。
He revealed his departure from the EV giant on Tuesday, amid wider company layoffs, saying it has "been an incredible 7 years building the best self driving product on the market."
他在週二透露自己離開了這家電動汽車巨頭，因爲公司裁員人數更大，他說 “打造市場上最好的自動駕駛產品已經過去了令人難以置信的7年”。
"While I had always planned to help Tesla get to the final destination of global deployment of Robotaxis, I think it's time to accelerate [the] rest of the robotics industry and build more bots that give people time back," he added.
他補充說：“雖然我一直計劃幫助特斯拉到達全球部署Robotaxis的最終目的地，但我認爲是時候加快機器人行業的發展，建造更多能讓人們回歸時間的機器人了。”
As for Tesla – it has been an incredible 7 years building the best self driving product on the market. We have come a long way from barely being able to stay in lane, to building Navigate on Autopilot, (Not) Smart Summon, Autonomy day push, giving 4AM demos for autonomy day and...
— Paril Jain (@pariljain) May 13, 2024
至於特斯拉，打造市場上最好的自動駕駛產品已經過去了令人難以置信的7年。我們已經走了很長一段路，從幾乎無法保持車道，到構建 Navigate on Autopilot、（不是）智能召喚、自主日推送、凌晨 4 點爲自主日提供演示以及...
— 帕里爾·賈恩 (@pariljain) 2024 年 5 月 13 日
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譯文內容由第三人軟體翻譯。