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This week I’m publishing an abbreviated version of the newsletter because of the 4th of July holiday. If you’re driving, flying, or taking the train for the U.S. holiday — which AAA projects 72.2 million people will travel at least 50 miles or more — stay safe out there. The complete newsletter returns next week.
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A little bird
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
You may recall last week, a New York Times article reported that Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick is working with investors to buy the U.S. arm of Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony AI, and Uber might even help make it happen.Several little birds tell me Kalanick ally and Uber ATG veteran Eric Meyhofer is involved. We’re poking around to learn more. In the meantime, here is a little history lesson. Meyhofer was with the National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon University before officially moving over to Uber in 2015. He eventually became CEO of Uber ATG, the self-driving unit that was later sold off to Aurora. Meyhofer has been connected to Kalanick’s CloudKitchens enterprise via a restaurant automation and robotics business called Lab37, which was initially reported by the Spoon back in 2023.
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