According to reports, Remote-driving startup Phantom Auto is shutting down, the remote-driving startup which debuted seven years ago amidst the excitement around autonomous car technology, is closing its doors after being unable to find additional funding.
About Phantom Auto
When Phantom Auto was first established in 2017, its primary goal was to leverage its teleops technology to enable autonomous vehicles, like self-driving trucks and robotaxis, to travel on public roads. The leadership team of the company quickly determined that, despite current technology, widespread commercial deployments of autonomous cars on public roads would likely take decades to materialize.
In 2019, Phantom Auto made a 180-degree turn and began pitching its remote driving technology to the logistics industry, particularly for autonomous sidewalk delivery robots and non-automated yard trucks and forklifts. With the exception of delivery bots, all of these vehicles are confined to small spaces and run at slow speeds. The company had customer agreements with Serve Robotics, an autonomous sidewalk bot startup, Maersk, CJ Logistics, and ArcBest.
Also see: Three Authors Sued Nvidia Over AI Use of Copyrighted Books Without Permission
Remote-driving startup Phantom Auto is shutting down
The startup, which had received $95 million in total, created a teleoperation platform that enabled a driver thousands of miles away to operate a car in an emergency. An eclectic group of investors supported the business, including private equity firm InfraBridge, angel investors, early-stage VCs including Bessemer Venture Partners and Maniv Mobility, and strategic investors like ArcBest and ConGlobal. In 2023, the startup raised a total of $25 million.
An unnamed source claimed that the firm was on the verge of landing a second round of funding, but it fell through unexpectedly. About 120 individuals were employed by the startup at its peak. As of this week, Phantom Auto, which had laid off employees the previous year, employed little over 100 individuals. Based in South San Francisco, it was.
Phantom Auto’s failure marks the most recent in a long line of startup companies that have emerged as interest in and funding for autonomous car technology has grown. With the sector witnessing billion-dollar valuations and acquisitions, the initial excitement surrounding the deployment of robotaxis and self-driving cars subsided along with the optimistic timescales. Consolidation, closures, and pivots came next. Another round of closures was brought on by the challenging fundraising climate during the previous 18 months.
Shai Magzimof, the CEO and founder of Phantom Auto, announced the company’s closure on LinkedIn on Tuesday.
We’ve made the difficult choice to shut down operations at Phantom Auto after seven years of trying to change the future of physical labor here. This is being caused by a number of issues, such as the state of the market and inadequate investment,” he stated. “I would want to thank all of the people who have supported us along the way, including our partners, customers, staff, and investors. Although these are difficult times, our team is my top priority. We currently have outstanding talent looking for work opportunities. I promise to provide our staff with references. I’ll be pausing to relax and consider my options for the future.
We were informed by sources that the company was making progress with customer rollout. It still needed outside finance, though, to maintain operations and eventually grow.