Why Construction Automation Is About Safety, Not Pink Slips

With construction sites across the U.S. stalled by labor shortages, San Francisco-based startup Bedrock Robotics announced last week that it has raised $80 million to deploy autonomous excavators and bulldozers, with no humans in the cab.

The company, which emerged from stealth alongside the announcement, retrofits standard heavy equipment with cameras, sensors, and machine-learning software designed to navigate rough terrain and perform excavation work with minimal oversight. Backers say it could help close a widening labor gap that’s delaying housing, roads, and energy projects nationwide.

“All of these macroeconomic pressures are driving a massive need to build,” Bedrock Robotics founder and CEO Boris Sofman told Decrypt. “At the same time, the construction labor force is short by half a million people. Forty percent of that workforce is retiring within 10 years, and there aren’t enough new entrants to meet current—let alone growing—demand.”

According to a June 2025 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 400,000 construction jobs remain unfilled. Bedrock’s answer to this shortage is the Bedrock Operator, an AI-powered system that converts traditional construction vehicles into autonomous machines. The operator uses cameras, sensors, and machine-learning models to comprehend terrain, and complete excavation tasks, providing real-time updates to project managers.

Sofman argued that the combination of rising demand and chronic workforce shortages has made automation not only useful for the bottom line, but also for combating workplace injuries.

“Construction is the most injury-prone industry across all job types,” Sofman said. “So there’s massive demand, insufficient labor supply, skyrocketing costs, and projects that simply don’t get done.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 199 workers were killed by heavy machinery in 2022 alone, part of 738 fatalities caused by contact with equipment or objects. The risks, including crushing, amputations, and ejections from cabs, were detailed in a 2024 report by industrial injury law firm Talbot, Carmouche & Marcello.

While AI and automation have sparked concerns about job displacement and loss of meaning, Sofman said the reality is far more complex. With not enough workers entering the field, automation can help keep projects on track and even create more jobs by accelerating development.

“If you make that more efficient, it unlocks projects that were funded but couldn’t proceed,” he said. “That creates jobs, it supports the economy, manufacturing expands, more housing gets built and prices fall, infrastructure improves, energy projects move forward—and all of that creates even more employment.”

In addition to safety, a significant benefit of using robotic construction vehicles is their ability to operate continuously for up to 24 hours a day.

Bedrock isn’t alone in pushing autonomy on construction sites. Built Robotics outfits excavators with its Exosystem kit for unmanned digging, while SafeAI converts haul trucks and loaders with retrofit autonomy packages. Newer startups like Polymath Robotics are building plug-and-play autonomy stacks for industrial vehicles, and Lumina is developing all-electric, self-driving bulldozers.

Meanwhile, heavyweights like Caterpillar and John Deere are rolling out their autonomous machines—Caterpillar’s self-driving haul trucks are already moving millions of tons in quarries, and Deere recently unveiled an autonomous dump truck and a fleet of AI-powered tractors and mowers.

This level of competition is leading to a surge in investment, and the global construction robot market is estimated to reach $8 billion by 2033.