While many endure daily traffic jams to get to their offices, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has found a more exhilarating way to commute. The tech entrepreneur shared a video on X, revealing his unique “5 minute jet ski commute” across Lake Austin to his workplace.
Kalanick resides in Texas, where he owns a property on Lake Austin. During an appearance on the TBPN podcast in March, he mentioned that he has been living there for five years, drawn by the lake’s appeal and his passion for watersports.
The trend of tech moguls relocating from Silicon Valley to Texas is gaining momentum. The state’s lower taxes, affordable real estate, and business-friendly regulations are attracting both billionaires and major corporations. Companies like Tesla, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise have made significant operational moves to Texas, responding to California’s rising costs and proposed billionaire wealth tax.
Currently, Kalanick is at the helm of Atoms, the new name for City Storage Systems and the parent company of CloudKitchens. This startup is innovating with AI-driven robots to automate routine physical tasks in various sectors, including food service, mining, manufacturing, and logistics. Kalanick has previously articulated Atoms’ mission as the creation of “gainfully employed robots” capable of performing specialized tasks on an industrial scale.
Having co-founded Uber in 2009, Kalanick played a pivotal role in its evolution into a ride-hailing powerhouse before stepping down in 2017. Since then, his focus has shifted to advancing software and robotics solutions in diverse industries such as kitchens, mining, and logistics. Despite his relocation to Austin, which offers a plethora of robotaxi options, it seems Kalanick prefers to navigate his commute by boat.
