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

Bedrock Robotics, an autonomous automobile expertise startup based by veterans of Waymo and Section, has been working quietly for greater than a yr. Now, it’s breaking cowl with an $80 million funding spherical from buyers Eclipse and 8VC.

Bedrock Robotics is concentrated on creating a self-driving equipment that may be retrofitted to development and different worksite automobiles, in line with the corporate. The announcement confirms a few of TechCrunch’s reporting in Could. 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 line with a weblog put up written by co-founder and CEO Boris Sofman.

Sofman beforehand led Waymo’s now shuttered self-driving vehicles program. However he’s maybe greatest recognized for his function as co-founder and CEO of Anki Robotics, which made the favored Cozmo client 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 Section and Twilio, can 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 most recent 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 lately with an purpose to use their self-driving methods 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 vehicles 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 stated it’s centered on development websites and is testing in Arkansas, Arizona, Texas, and California with 4 companies: Sundt Development, Zachry Development Company, Champion Website Prep Inc., and Capitol Aggregates Inc.