Phantom Auto, the remote driving startup launched seven years ago, is shutting down due to a lack of new funding. Throughout its lifespan, Phantom Auto raised $95 million and developed a teleoperation platform. This technology allows a remote driver – sometimes thousands of miles away – to operate a vehicle if necessary.
The company attracted a diverse range of backers such as angel investors, VCs – including Bessemer Venture Partners and Maniv Mobility, private equity firm InfraBridge, and strategic investors like ArcBest and ConGlobal. Phantom Auto’s last funding round secured $25 million in 2023, and despite coming close to a new funding round, it fell through.
At its peak, Phantom Auto employed approximately 120 individuals, now down to just over 100. Based in South San Francisco, the startup is another casualty in a long list of companies that emerged as the autonomous vehicle technology industry gained traction. Unfortunately, this once buzzing industry has seen a wave of consolidations, shutdowns, and pivots following delayed robotaxi and self-driving vehicle deployment timelines.
Phantom Auto’s founder and CEO, Shai Magzimof, announced on LinkedIn that the company was ceasing operations. Market conditions and insufficient funding were among the factors contributing to this unsettling decision. Despite having a promising customer deployment side, Phantom Auto was still heavily reliant on outside funding to keep operations running and to scale.
Founded in 2017, the company originally focused on employing its teleops technology to autonomous vehicles navigating public roadways. However, by 2019, Phantom Auto realized large-scale commercial deployment of driverless vehicles on public roads was still decades away. Therefore, it shifted its effort, marketing its remote driving system to logistics – specifically forklifts, yard trucks, and autonomous sidewalk delivery robots, all operating at low speeds and in confined environments. Phantom Auto had customer agreements with Maersk, CJ Logistics, ArcBest, and autonomous sidewalk bot startup Serve Robotics.
Source: Remote driving startup Phantom Auto is shutting down.
