Av Startup Pronto.ai Acquires Off-road Autonomous Vehicle Rival Safeai

The Venn sketch of engineers that cognize a small spot astir AI, aforesaid driving, and mining has a mini intersection. Pronto.ai CEO Anthony Levandowski wants arsenic galore of those group arsenic possible. And an acquisition is helping him execute that goal.

The San Francisco-based startup, which has developed a self-driving strategy designed for haulage trucks and different off-road vehicles utilized astatine building and mining sites, has acquired competitor Safe AI, TechCrunch has learned.

Terms of nan woody person not been disclosed. However, Levandowski said nan acquisition is simply a talent and exertion play. The bulk of nan mini 12-person startup’s engineering squad and its IP will travel complete to Pronto. A root acquainted pinch nan woody said Safe AI acquisition value was successful “the millions.”

“In nan autonomous haulage strategy space, there’s really benignant of 2 players — it’s SafeAI and us,” Levandowski told TechCrunch successful a caller interview, adding that SafeAI and Pronto person taken different approaches to nan market. “We’ve been increasing a ton and needed to adhd much group and resources to nan team, truthful it made consciousness to acquisition them … person much wood down less arrows truthful that we could turn faster.”

Pronto, which was co-founded pinch Ognen Stojanovski successful 2018, uses precocious sensors, cameras and artificial intelligence to run haul trucks autonomously. Pronto besides uses Pollen Mobile, a peer-to-peer unfastened root mobile information web nan startup launched successful 2022 that allows it to speech information anonymously and astatine precocious speeds without relying connected bequest carriers. Pollen is utilized to support sites pinch small to nary connectivity. 

Pronto has kept its squad reasonably thin astatine astir 40 people. The SafeAI acquisition will thief Pronto service much customers, including internationally, Levandowski said. Last year, Pronto extended a business pinch Heidelberg Materials North America, 1 of nan largest build materials and cement producers successful nan world, pursuing a aviator programme astatine nan company’s Bridgeport Quarry successful Texas. Pronto’s exertion is integrated into Komatsu haulage trucks, which operates autonomously astatine nan site.

Earlier this year, Pronto announced an statement pinch Heidelberg to deploy much than 100 autonomous trucks and expanding its squad successful Brazil.

The acquisition will besides let Pronto meet a assortment of needs from mini quarries to ample mines.

Notably, nan acquisition will let Pronto to connection customers a gradual exertion portfolio. Pronto is known for its camera-only approach. SafeAI, which was founded successful 2017 and raised $38 cardinal successful Series B information of backing 3 years ago, uses aggregate sensors on-vehicle cameras, radar, and lidar. Pronto plans to connection nan multi-sensor attack arsenic good arsenic usage SafeAI’s information model that has been ASIL D-certified, nan highest information integrity level successful nan industry.