Autonomous equipment pilot scheduled at South San Francisco construction site

Developers plan to create an autonomous construction site pilot project in South San Francisco within weeks.

ZD Net reports that the initiative involves Safe AI and Obayashi Corporation, a Japanese-based construction firm, which made a a strategic investment in autonomous software developer in April 2020.

“Our work with Obayashi paves the way for safer and more efficient construction sites across the world and reflects Obayashi’s commitment to innovative, connected technologies,” Safe AI founder and CEO Bibhrajit Halder has been quoted as saying.  “There is a critical need for autonomy outside of on-road vehicles –– the technology is ready today and we’ve built an ecosystem specifically for the construction and mining industries.”

SafeAI will operate an autonomous Caterpillar 725 articulated dump truck to demonstrate load-haul-dump cycles in the planned pilot project.

“We are investing in autonomous solutions that we believe will play a critical role in our success both in the near term and also down the road. SafeAI has built a powerful autonomous ecosystem that ushers in safer, more productive worksites,” said Hiroto Sato, Chief Operating Officer of Obayashi SVVL (Silicon Valley Ventures and Laboratory). “Throughout our partnership, we look forward to building operational and organizational structure to support this pilot and more deployments like it in the future.”