The robotics startup Starship Technologies has a few things in common with Elon Musk‘s rocket company, SpaceX, and electric-vehicle giant, Tesla.
Besides sharing the same name as SpaceX’s spacecraft, the company also has a trademark for “Robovan” — the name Tesla has chosen for its self-driving cargo van. Starship specializes in autonomous delivery robots.
When asked about Tesla’s Robovan, a spokesperson for Starship said in an email to Business Insider on Friday that the Robovan “was a great idea when we came up with it 7 years ago.”
To be sure, Starship’s Robovan isn’t a self-driving vehicle like Tesla’s. Musk first showcased the Tesla Robovan on Thursday in Burbank, California, during Tesla’s “We, Robot” event.
In a 2016 YouTube video, Starship described its Robovan as a vehicle designed to store and deploy its autonomous delivery robots.
Starship is a great name too; we also had that first and trademarked it,” the spokesperson wrote in the same email.
According to United States Patent and Trademark Office records, Starship filed trademarks for “Starship” and “Robovan” in July 2015 and July 2017, respectively.
Both applications were successfully registered in May 2019 and April 2019, respectively.
SpaceX filed a trademark for “Starship” in March 2023, though it hasn’t been approved as of press time.
Read more
‘Robovan’ by Starship Technologies and Mercedes-Benz Vans: future-proof local delivery
