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Bedrock Robotics, led by a veteran of Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous tech unit, is emerging from stealth with $80 million and plans to make heavy construction equipment work around-the-clock without human operators. A team of engineers from self-driving robotaxi leader Waymo is eyeing another huge market to automate: construction equipment. Last year, Boris Sofman, previously a star engineer at robotaxi leader Waymo where he worked to automate trucks, teamed up with former Waymo colleagues Ajay Gummalla and Kevin Peterson, along with Tom Eliaz, founder of data platform Sement that Twilio bought for $3.2 billion, to start Bedrock Robotics. They’re starting with excavators, the ubiquitous machines that do the heavy digging. The San Francisco-based startup isn’t designing its own line of construction machinery, but instead plans to modify existing equipment with cameras, lidar, computers and AI software that enables them to work around the clock–including in blistering heat when human workers would need regular breaks. Bedrock, which has also brought on former Uber Freight EVP Laurent Hautefeuille as COO, is emerging from stealth with $80 million in new funding and plans to begin commercial operations in 2026. “It’s another one of those transportation-style spaces that is due for a wave of what’s happening in transportation.” Waymo’s success with robotaxis shows “the state of technology just being right, where we’re seeing it work on one of the hardest applications in the world,” Sofman told Forbes. “That’s exactly the type of building block that catalyzes change. When you tally up all the ways we use these specialized heavy machines, it’s another one of those transportation-style spaces that is due for a wave of what’s happening in transportation.” It’s a tricky time for the massive U.S. construction industry. There’s huge demand for new housing, data centers and factories, but the Trump Administration’s tariffs and its…

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Filed under: News - @ July 16, 2025 11:28 am