SafeAI and Obayashi Corporation, announced a partnership to create autonomous construction sites, beginning with a pilot program on a U.S. test site. Joining with one of the largest names in construction, SafeAI is demonstrating industrial autonomy in a real world situation and setting a standard for future autonomous heavy equipment. The news follows Obayashi Corporation’s strategic investment in SafeAI in November 2019. Beginning in November 2020, SafeAI will operate an autonomous articulated dump truck, specifically the Caterpillar 725 articulated dump truck, demonstrating a vital function on the site: load-haul-dump cycles. The pilot will operate at a construction site in Cupertino, CA. Globally, construction represents one of the largest sectors in the world economy, according to The McKinsey Global Institute – $10 trillion is spent on construction-related goods and services yearly. America creates nearly $1.3 trillion worth of structures each year while Japan creates JPY 11.1 trillion worth of construction orders. Yet the industry-at-large faces labor shortages, missed deadlines, and increasing costs. The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated these labor shortages –– 83% of contractors reported moderate to high levels of difficulty in finding skilled workers, causing them to turn down projects. Autonomous heavy equipment uniquely addresses long held pain points of the construction industry by offering a safer, more productive solution that can operate 24/7 without risk of fatigue or injury. To that end, SafeAI 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 with a range of ecosystem partners, bringing the entire vehicle onto the autonomous platform. SafeAI’s advanced autonomy is equipped to deploy in a variety of construction use cases while navigating highly dynamic worksites.