Autonomous construction tech startup Bedrock Robotics has just closed on a $270 million Series B funding round that brings total investment in the self-driving roller and excavator firm to more than $350 million. (!)
Everywhere you look, there is work to be done and precious few people to do it – and that’s especially true when it comes to road construction, an industry that’s been struggling to attract and keep new talent. As the average age of construction workers rises, however, fresh technology like automation and remote operation are making it easier to multiply their efforts.
“The construction industry is being asked to build more than it can deliver,” explains Boris Sofman, co-founder and chief executive of Bedrock Robotics, who believes the construction industry faces growing pressure to deliver projects, despite labour shortages. “Contractors are pulled across competing priorities with the same limited workforce and equipment.”
Labor shortages are, and seem likely to continue to be a huge challenge for the industry, with some estimates suggesting that the construction business in the US alone could require around 800,000 additional workers over the next two years – and the young people graduating high school and college these days? They’re not exactly lining up for those construction jobs.
That’s part of what makes the plug-in autonomy retrofut kits that Bedrock is developing so attractive to investors. Once fitted, the tech is designed to “learn” from an experienced remote operator, then perform a number of tasks (the completion of a trench or the compaction of a half-mile stretch of road, for example) on its own, allowing a single operator to “man” several self driving machines on large-scale projects simultaneously.
To that end, machines like rollers and road compactors will likely be among the first pieces of construction equipment to operate autonomously on sites.
Bedrock’s latest funding round was led by CapitalG and Valor Equity Partners, with participation from investors including NVIDIA’s venture capital arm, NVentures, and sets the company’s market valuation at approx. $1.75 billion.
What is that thing?
If you clicked on this article hoping to learn more about the cabless HAMM F1 roller, you’re in the right place! You’re looking at a HAMM-branded self driving concept vehicle from the heavy equipment experts at Wirtgen, who similarly believe that rollers and compaction machines will be among the first vehicles to get automated.
“This development will not stop at construction machinery. Rollers for asphalt and soil compaction will be among the first vehicles in which such systems will widely establish themselves,” explains Dr. Stefan Klumpp, Chief Technology Officer at HAMM AG. “This is because, in many respects, they are closer to cars than many other types of machine are. This is precisely why we have already been considering this topic at HAMM for a very long time.”
Wirtgen has already made limited progress with autonomous compaction, but unlike the self-driving hype mongers from Tesla, Wirtgen seems to think that true self driving could still be many years away.
“For some, our long-term objective may still sound like science fiction,” notes Klumpp. “But in 20 or 30 years, many aspects will already be reality – even routine. Eventually, aided by our developments, road construction of the future will become even more cost-effective, more efficient and better.”
You can check out Wirtgen’s progress on autonomous HAMM rollers here, then let us know what you think of this autonomous construction tech in the comments.
SOURCES: Bedrock Robotics, via Construction Briefing; Wirtgen.
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