Waymo pioneer Sebastian Thrun unveils stealth robotics startup Dulo
What's the deal? Sebastian ThrunDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, who founded Google's self-driving-car project, is building a new robotics startup called DuloDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. He named the venture on Tuesday at the close of a keynote at Actuate, a robotics conference in San Francisco, but revealed little else, Business Insider reported.
What did he say? "I am not speaking about the company yet," Thrun told an audience of robotics founders and staff. "It's under stealth, it's very small. But it's in robotics." He gave no funding figure, product, or launch date.
What's the endgame? A bare-bones, Stanford-hosted website says Dulo is developing "foundation models for hardware design," with the goal of enabling "manufacturing at lightspeed." That aim sits a step earlier in the chain than most robotics startups, which build robots and humanoids that act in the world.
Who is building it? The site says Dulo's team includes leaders from Waymo, Google Brain, and Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL), which Thrun once directed. Those are three of the places most associated with the modern wave of AI and autonomy.
Why now? Thrun is launching into a robotics boom fuelled by falling hardware costs, labour shortages, and pressure to reshore manufacturing. Physical AI startups raised a record $16.3 billion across 492 deals in the first quarter of 2026, according to PitchBook data cited by Business Insider.
Who is Thrun? He is not a first-time founder. His Stanford team won a landmark 2005 autonomous-vehicle race, completing a 132-mile desert course with no human at the wheel; Google co-founder Larry PageDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → then recruited him to lead the self-driving project that became Waymo. He also co-founded Google Brain, Google X, Udacity, and later led the now-defunct flying-car startup KittyhawkDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The signal: The record flow of money into physical AI has lifted established players too, from Swiss firm GravisDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s $200 million SoftBankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →-led round to onsemiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s $7 billion deal for SynapticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. A founder with Thrun's record targeting the design layer, rather than the machines themselves, points to where the next competition may form.
Read more: Business Insider, thenextweb.com
Image credit: jurvetson
