Safe AI, a company that retrofits heavy equipment for autonomous applications, and Obayashi Corp., a Japan-based construction company, will kick off a pilot program this November in which a Caterpillar 725 articulated dump truck will autonomously complete load-haul-dump cycles.
The importance of this pilot is two-fold, according to the company. There’s a critical need for autonomy outside of on-road vehicles, and this demonstration is a turning point for real-world application of autonomous technology. Safe AI has built an open, interoperable, full-stack autonomy platform that can be retrofitted across existing fleets of industrial equipment. The interoperable model allows for integration within a range of ecosystem partners, bringing the entire vehicle onto the autonomous platform.
According to a Medium article, the company ensures the improvement journey is holistic and not dominated only by the technology itself. The company applies project management disciplines to define and deliver solutions.
According to the Association of General Contractors, construction creates nearly $1.3 trillion worth of structures each year in America. But the industry also faces a slew of urgent safety concerns (one in five worker deaths last year were in construction), increasing labor shortages, missed deadlines, and rising costs — and COVID-19 has only accelerated these bottlenecks.Autonomous heavy equipment delivers a safer, more productive solution for the construction industry.
Source: Safe AI, Medium, Global News Wire
