Another One Bites The Dust!

Locomation Inc., a 2018 spinout company from Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center that worked to develop autonomous trucking solutions, will cease to exist by month's end as the company disclosed it lacked the funds necessary to continue operations.

R.I.P.

Otto (2018)

Starsky Robotics (2020)

Peloton Technology (2021)

On life support:

TuSimple: Their IPO last April gave them a valuation of $8.5 B. Today, their market cap is $500 M with a negative enterprise value. In December they announced they were restructuring and laying off 25% of their workforce.

Aurora Innovation: Went public in Summer of '21 with an initial market cap of $13 B. Today, it's $1.7 B. Earlier this month they announced a loss of $1.72 B for their first full year as a public company.

Yeah, after taking 23 days with 2 automated systems and over a dozen human beings involved to successfully correct a porting error with my cell phone number at my new carrier, I feel pretty confident embarking on my new career as a truck driver without being replaced by automation anytime soon.

Thanks for sharing Pacific Pearl. 👍🏿

Locomation Inc., a 2018 spinout company from Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center that worked to develop autonomous trucking solutions, will cease to exist by month's end as the company disclosed it lacked the funds necessary to continue operations.

R.I.P.

Otto (2018)

Starsky Robotics (2020)

Peloton Technology (2021)

On life support:

TuSimple: Their IPO last April gave them a valuation of $8.5 B. Today, their market cap is $500 M with a negative enterprise value. In December they announced they were restructuring and laying off 25% of their workforce.

Aurora Innovation: Went public in Summer of '21 with an initial market cap of $13 B. Today, it's $1.7 B. Earlier this month they announced a loss of $1.72 B for their first full year as a public company.

Tech startups are essentially a game of musical chairs. You raise a bunch of money, build something that seems to have potential, make a bunch of outrageous claims about where this potential will lead, and then hope to God someone buys you out at a massive valuation before everyone realizes you've produced nothing of importance and your company's value drops to zero.

We've heard outrageous claims about self-driving vehicles for years, and we know today that none of them have produced worthwhile results. Nothing.

It's amazing how some technologies have great potential and seem poised to take over the world for decades, yet nothing happens. Look at virtual reality headsets. Do they do some cool things? Sure. But don't forget there were VR headsets available in the 80s! Think about that! After almost 50 years of development, VR is still nothing more than a sideshow in our society.

Wake me when our railroad system is autonomous. If they can get a vehicle that runs on tracks to drive itself, maybe we're within a couple of decades of doing it with cars and trucks. For now, it's just a money-making gimmick.