Bedrock Robotics, a newcomer in the autonomous construction equipment space, is conducting the industry’s largest-known supervised autonomy deployment for mass excavation on a 130-acre manufacturing facility site in Phoenix, Arizona, with partner Sundt Construction.
Autonomous excavators are being used to load human-operated articulated dump trucks, following the same workflow as manual operations. More than 65,000 cubic yards of material have been moved on the site so far, with Bedrock and Sundt calling it “a leap forward” in commercial autonomous construction.
Bedrock’s Operator platform technology has been installed across multiple excavator models, ranging from 20 to 80 tons. The hardware consists of a square rack mounted to the top of the cab that uses LiDAR, GPS, inertial measurement units, eight high-definition cameras and an in-cab computer for processing. It can be installed within a few hours, with no permanent modifications to the machine.
Sundt is excited about the advancements in autonomous equipment, which is well-suited for mass excavation that requires repetitive work over a long period.
"The biggest challenge we face isn't just finding operators — it's keeping experienced ones engaged when we need them for months of repetitive earthmoving in remote locations," said Dan Green, project manager at Sundt Construction. "Our best operators aren't interested in the monotony of mass excavation work. With Bedrock's technology handling the repetitive truck loading that goes on day after day, our skilled workforce can focus on more specialized and creative problems where their expertise is critical to success."
The Phoenix site is just one of several supervised autonomy site tests underway by Bedrock Robotics and its partners, as the company aims for fully autonomous operations in 2026. Bedrock also recently completed an autonomous excavation project for a customer's prototyping facility at Proto-Town, a central Texas hub designed to help hardware startups manufacture, test and scale technologies.
The tech startup continues to expand its network of industry collaborators, with Austin Bridge & Road, Maverick Constructors and Haydon Companies recently joining Zachry Construction, Sundt Construction, Champion Site Prep and Capitol Aggregates in Bedrock’s partner program.
The partners will help Bedrock accelerate the adoption of autonomy across commercial, industrial, and heavy civil applications, while ensuring the technology is developed with visibility into the full spectrum of construction scenarios that contractors face daily.
"Safety is at the heart of all we do, and technology has the potential to further enhance the safe performance of work at our jobsites," said Bill Heathcott, executive vice president, Austin Bridge & Road. "Our partnership with Bedrock Robotics has opened the door to autonomous equipment, a game-changer in next-level worker protection as well as increased efficiency and precision. Together, we're exploring how this innovation could change construction for the better, help to solve critical skilled-labor shortages, and ultimately allow our crews to get more done."
"Construction faces exploding demand from data centers, domestic manufacturing, and energy projects, at a time when the availability of skilled operators continues to decline," said Boris Sofman, co-founder and CEO of Bedrock Robotics. "Developing our technology on active jobsites with experienced contractors and their crews means we're addressing the exact challenges that limit project capacity today, while ensuring we do it in a way that is intuitive and non-disruptive to our partners and customers. This collaborative approach helps us build technology that enables contractors to take on more projects and deliver them successfully."
