Ex-Waymo engineers launch Bedrock Robotics with $80M to automate development

Bedrock Robotics, an autonomous automobile know-how startup based by veterans of Waymo and Phase, has been working quietly for greater than a 12 months. Now, it’s breaking cowl with an $80 million funding spherical from traders Eclipse and 8VC.

Bedrock Robotics is targeted on creating a self-driving equipment that may be retrofitted to development and different worksite automobiles, in accordance with the corporate. The announcement confirms a few of TechCrunch’s reporting in Might. Bedrock is “upgrading current fleets with sensors, compute, and intelligence that understands challenge targets, adapts to altering situations, and executes work across the clock,” in accordance with a weblog publish written by co-founder and CEO Boris Sofman.

Sofman beforehand led Waymo’s now shuttered self-driving vans program. However he’s maybe finest identified for his position as co-founder and CEO of Anki Robotics, which made the favored Cozmo shopper robotic, and shut down in 2019. Different co-founders embody Waymo veterans Kevin Peterson, who’s now CTO, Ajay Gummalla, who’s a VP of engineering, and Tom Eliaz, who beforehand labored at Phase and Twilio, can also be a VP of engineering.

The corporate couldn’t be reached for remark. TechCrunch will replace this text with new particulars as soon as Bedrock responds.

Bedrock is the newest firm to steer engineers who’re adept at robotics, autonomy, and AI towards the off-road atmosphere. A number of autonomous automobile startups have popped up in recent times with an goal to use their self-driving techniques to off-road environments like development, mining, industrial websites, and even protection.

Earlier this week, Pronto, a San Francisco-based startup that has developed a self-driving system designed for haulage vans and different off-road automobiles used at development and mining websites, acquired competitor SafeAI. Different startups that play within the fragmented and broad sector of off-road autonomy embody Kodiak Robotics, Polymath Robotics, Seattle-based Overland AI, New Brunswick, Canada-based Potential, and extra established firms like Forterra.

Bedrock mentioned it’s centered on development websites and is testing in Arkansas, Arizona, Texas, and California with 5 companies: Sundt Development, Zachry Development Company, Champion Website Prep Inc., and Capitol Aggregates Inc.