obayashi operate autonomous vehicle
SafeAI and Obayashi Operate Autonomous Vehicle on a Construction Site in Japan
SafeAI, a global leader in autonomous solutions for heavy equipment, in partnership with Obayashi Corporation hosted nearly 150 visitors to view its retrofitted autonomous Caterpillar 725, operating on a construction site in Japan for the first time ever. The demos, which took place over a two week period, brought together delegates from nearly 50 organizations across the construction industry ecosystem, including leading OEM, general contractors, technology companies, universities and research groups and Japanese government entities responsible for regulation. In addition to winning buy-in from key stakeholders, the demos mark a critical first step toward securing approval from the government and industry organizations to bring autonomous construction to Japan. Prior to the public demo, SafeAI and Obayashi spent 6 weeks extensively testing in a Japanese environment to confirm all the features previously developed in the US-based proof of concept (POC), which was completed in California in November 2021. Japanese regulations were not originally designed to support the use of autonomous vehicles for off-road construction.