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

Bedrock Robotics, an autonomous vehicle technology startup founded by veterans of Waymo and Segment, has been operating quietly for more than a year. Now, it’s breaking cover with an $80 million funding round from investors Eclipse and 8VC.

Bedrock Robotics is focused on developing a self-driving kit that can be retrofitted to construction and other worksite vehicles, according to the company. The announcement confirms some of TechCrunch’s reporting in May. Bedrock is “upgrading existing fleets with sensors, compute, and intelligence that understands project goals, adapts to changing conditions, and executes work around the clock,” according to a blog post written by co-founder and CEO Boris Sofman.

Sofman previously led Waymo’s now shuttered self-driving trucks program. But he’s perhaps best known for his role as co-founder and CEO of Anki Robotics, which made the popular Cozmo consumer robot, and shut down in 2019. Other co-founders include Waymo veterans Kevin Peterson, who is now CTO, Ajay Gummalla, who is a VP of engineering, and Tom Eliaz, who previously worked at Segment and Twilio, is also a VP of engineering.

The company could not be reached for comment. TechCrunch will update this article with new details once Bedrock responds.

Bedrock is the latest company to steer engineers who are adept at robotics, autonomy, and AI toward the off-road environment. Several autonomous vehicle startups have popped up in recent years with an aim to apply their self-driving systems to off-road environments, like construction, mining, industrial sites, and even defense.

Earlier this week, Pronto, a San Francisco-based startup that has developed a self-driving system designed for haulage trucks and other off-road vehicles used at construction and mining sites, acquired competitor SafeAI. Other startups that play in the fragmented and broad sector of off-road autonomy include Kodiak Robotics, Polymath Robotics, Seattle-based Overland AI, New Brunswick, Canada-based Potential, and more established companies like Forterra.

Bedrock said it’s focused on construction sites and is testing in Arkansas, Arizona, Texas, and California with four corporations: Sundt Construction, Zachry Construction Corporation, Champion Site Prep Inc., and Capitol Aggregates Inc.