Bedrock Robotics, a company founded by former Waymo engineers, has launched fully autonomous excavators on active U.S. construction sites, signaling that self-driving technology is expanding far beyond robotaxis into heavy equipment and infrastructure work. The San Francisco-based firm announced on Monday that its retrofit technology is now operating on critical infrastructure projects, including a Nevada water treatment facility in partnership with Sundt Construction and a 1.2 million cubic yard civil sitework project with Zachry Construction.

Why Did Bedrock Choose Excavators as Its First Target?

While Waymo focuses on navigating city streets with passengers, Bedrock is tackling a different challenge: automating machines that typically require five years of training to master. Excavators make up roughly 25% of a contractor's fleet and are among the hardest heavy equipment to staff with skilled operators, which is why Bedrock prioritized them as its starting point. This focus on a specific pain point in construction labor reflects a strategic decision to solve a concrete industry problem rather than compete directly in the crowded robotaxi space.

Bedrock's Operator system retrofits existing excavators with a sophisticated sensor and compute suite that allows the machines to perceive their environment and execute complex tasks autonomously after a site manager sets an initial plan. The upfitted excavators can operate alongside other equipment on normal construction sites and will stop automatically if they sense a person or object getting too close.

"Our sensor suite and machine learning models are designed with safety in mind, and have been rigorously tested in real world environments and in simulation. Our sensor layout gives the machines a 360 degree field of view, eliminating the dangerous blind spots for human operators. These machines will only operate autonomously in conditions that have been approved, and if the system detects any faults, it pauses work and comes to a stop," said Boris Sofman, CEO of Bedrock Robotics.

Boris Sofman, CEO of Bedrock Robotics

How Does Bedrock Avoid the Urban Gridlock Problems Waymo Faces?

The construction robotics strategy sidesteps some of the problems Waymo has encountered in dense urban environments. During San Francisco's America 250 celebration on July 4, dozens of Waymo vehicles contributed to a massive traffic jam when they were unable to navigate during gridlock. Bedrock's distributed approach minimizes this risk exposure by operating across multiple jobsites rather than concentrating autonomous vehicles in a single metropolitan area.

"Bedrock's machines, by nature of how they're used by our customers, will be distributed across sites all over the country. This minimizes our risk exposure to these types of surges," said Sofman.

Boris Sofman, CEO of Bedrock Robotics

The company's technology comes from a team with deep autonomous vehicle expertise. Bedrock's co-founders and much of the early team came from Waymo, the robotaxi company that now offers autonomous rides in 11 cities nationally, including San Francisco. This pedigree brings proven self-driving capabilities to an entirely new sector, though the controlled environment of a construction jobsite presents fewer variables than city streets.

What Equipment Will Bedrock Automate Next?

Excavators are only the beginning of Bedrock's expansion plans. The company specifically built its technology and infrastructure to scale beyond a single machine type, with Sofman outlining ambitions to extend autonomous capabilities across the construction equipment ecosystem.

• Dump Trucks: Autonomous hauling of excavated material and construction debris across jobsites and to disposal locations, reducing the need for dedicated truck operators.
• Dozers: Automated grading and site preparation work that currently requires skilled operators to manage precision earthmoving tasks with tight tolerances.
• Loaders: Self-operating equipment for material handling and loading operations that could run during extended operational hours, including nighttime work.

"Excavators are only the starting point for Bedrock, and we specifically built our technology and infrastructure to extend far beyond a single machine type. Eventually, we'll expand to other highly used and in-demand machines," said Sofman.

Boris Sofman, CEO of Bedrock Robotics

Sofman emphasized that expanding to broader operational hours, such as nighttime work, and automating multiple machines working together could directly compress project schedules and deliver significant value to contractors and their end-customers. This vision of coordinated autonomous equipment represents a fundamental shift in how construction projects could be managed.

How Is Bedrock Funded in the Robotics Boom?

Bedrock's rapid growth reflects broader momentum in construction robotics. The company launched out of stealth in July 2025 with $80 million in Seed and Series A funding. In February 2026, Bedrock announced it had raised an additional $270 million to scale its autonomous construction technology. This funding surge comes as the robotics sector gains significant traction in the building industry, with competitors like Switzerland-based Gravis Robotics securing $200 million in Series A funding from SoftBank on the same day Bedrock announced its excavator deployment.

The convergence of Waymo's autonomous vehicle expertise, substantial venture funding, and real-world deployment on active jobsites suggests that self-driving technology is maturing beyond the consumer robotaxi market. For construction companies facing labor shortages and rising operational costs, autonomous heavy equipment represents a tangible path to efficiency gains that could reshape how infrastructure projects are executed across the country.