Built Robotics raises $33M for its self-driving construction equipment

Built Robotics,  a company aiming to make construction equipment autonomous, is announcing a $33 million Series B round this morning. With the construction industry facing a global labor shortage, Built’s aim is to allow one equipment operator to oversee a fleet of vehicles working autonomously in parallel, hopping in the cab only for tasks the machine can’t handle. Rather than building its own vehicles, Built focuses on converting the popular construction equipment that’s already out there. They sell a kit that straps to the top of things like excavators, bulldozers and skid steers, taking tech like lidar, GPS and Wi-Fi and meshing them into the machine’s innards to give it autonomous smarts. They sell the conversion boxes to other companies, help them get installed, then charge a usage fee whenever the machines are in autonomous mode.