Founding and the remote-assist thesis
Starsky was founded in 2015 and based in San Francisco, with Stefan Seltz-Axmacher and Kartik Tiwari as founders. Its core idea was a hybrid system: the truck drove highway miles autonomously, while a remote human operator guided it through the final miles to a distribution center. Early backers included Y Combinator, Trucks.vc, 50 Years and 9Point Ventures.
Early unmanned runs and a first paid delivery
The company said it made a paid delivery in 2016 with no one behind the wheel, and it reported a fully unmanned test on a closed road in 2018. A 2019 run on a live highway followed, which the founders described as the first fully unmanned truck on a public highway. These milestones were announced by the company itself and were prominent in trade coverage at the time.
A $16.5 million Series A and the funding plateau
In March 2018 Starsky closed a $16.5 million Series A led by Shasta Ventures, bringing reported total funding to roughly $20 to $21 million. The company was pursuing a larger $20 million Series B in late 2019 to scale its operations. Starsky's own account says investor enthusiasm for autonomous trucking had already begun to fade by then.