There are few crossings on the Venn diagram of engineers who know a bit about AI, autonomous driving and mining. Pronto.ai CEO Anthony Levandowski wants as many people as possible. And the acquisition is helping him achieve that goal.
The San Francisco-based startup has developed autonomous driving systems designed for transport trucks and other off-road vehicles used in construction and mining sites, and has acquired competitor SAFEAI.
The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. However, Levandowski said the acquisition is a play of talent and technology. The majority of the engineering team of a small 12 startup and their IPs come to Pronto. A source familiar with the transaction said SAFEAI’s acquisition price was in “millions.”
“There are really two players in the space of the autonomous conveyor system. It’s Safeai and us,” Levandowski told TechCrunch in a recent interview, adding that Safeai and Pronto are taking different approaches to the market. “We’ve grown a ton and we had to add a lot of people and resources to our team, so it makes sense to buy them.
Co-founded with Ognen Stojanovski in 2018, Pronto uses advanced sensors, cameras and artificial intelligence to autonomously operate hauling trucks. Pronto also uses Pollen Mobile, a peer-to-peer open-source mobile data network launched in 2022. Pollen is used to support sites with little or no connectivity.
Pronto kept the team quite lean with around 40 people. According to Levandowski, the acquisition of SAFEAI will help Pronto serve many customers internationally. Last year, Pronto expanded its partnership with Heidelberg Materials North America, one of the world’s largest building materials and cement producers, following its pilot program at the company’s Bridgeport Quarry in Texas. Pronto’s technology is integrated into Komatsu Haulage Trucks, which operates autonomously on the site.
Earlier this year, Prond announced an agreement with Heidelberg to deploy more than 100 autonomous tracks and expand the team to Brazil.
This acquisition will allow Pronto to meet a variety of needs, from small quarries to large mines.
In particular, the acquisition allows Pronto to offer its clients a step-by-step technology portfolio. Pronto is known for its camera-only approach. SAFEAI was founded in 2017 and raised $38 million in the Series B round three years ago, using multiple sensors, cameras on the vehicle, radar and lidar. Not only will Pronto offer a multi-sensor approach, it will also use Asil D-certified Safeai’s safety framework, which is the highest safety integrity level in the industry.
