Bedrock Robotics raises $600M for autonomous excavators at nearly $1B valuation
Bedrock Robotics raised $600M in a Series C led by CapitalG and Emergence Capital, valuing the startup at nearly $1B.
Bedrock sells an autonomy module for excavators called the Bedrock Operator. Vehicles equipped with the system can navigate construction sites and perform earthmoving tasks with minimal human input, according to the company. The onboard artificial intelligence models automatically avoid obstacles in the vehicle's path.
The funding comes a few weeks after Bedrock began carrying out paid work on commercial construction sites.
The Bedrock Operator runs its software on a computing appliance that can be placed in the host excavator's driver cabin. It is powered by an unspecified chip from Nvidia, an investor in the round. The graphics card maker offers a ruggedized AI accelerator, the Jetson AGX Orin, that is optimized for demanding environments such as construction sites and can withstand higher temperatures than Nvidia's other edge processors.
The other component is a sensor array installed on the roof of the driver cabin. It supplies data the computing module uses to make driving decisions. Bedrock said the array has eight cameras and a lidar device that can detect nearby objects in low-light conditions.
The GPS module an excavator uses can encounter errors when a building blocks the signal to the nearest satellite, or when the antenna is tilted, for example on uneven terrain. The Bedrock Operator includes an inertial measurement unit, or IMU, to mitigate such malfunctions. An IMU contains a magnetometer and other sensors that determine the excavator's orientation relative to the ground, allowing GPS errors to be corrected. It can also collect data such as the speed at which an excavator's arm rotates.
“We have proven that fully autonomous excavators can perform real work of value alongside the crews and workflows already in place on job sites,” co-founder and Chief Executive Boris Sofman said. “The next challenge is delivering that capability to more contractors as a dependable part of how projects get built.”
Bedrock will use the new funding to expand adoption of its technology and build the field service infrastructure needed to support additional deployments. In the longer term, the company plans to expand beyond excavators to other construction vehicles.