Pronto, a San Francisco-based developer of autonomous systems for heavy vehicles in mining and construction, has acquired rival SafeAI in a move aimed at accelerating growth and expanding its engineering talent base. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, though a source familiar with the matter said the acquisition was valued in the “millions.”
“In the autonomous haulage system space, there’s really kind of two players — it’s SafeAI and us,” Pronto CEO Anthony Levandowski told TechCrunch. “We’ve been growing a ton and needed to add more people and resources to the team, so it made sense to purchase them … have more wood behind fewer arrows so that we could grow faster.”
The acquisition brings over most of SafeAI’s 12-person engineering team and its intellectual property, adding to Pronto’s existing 40-person workforce. Founded in 2018 by Levandowski and Ognen Stojanovski, Pronto specializes in retrofitting haul trucks with an autonomous driving system that relies primarily on cameras and artificial intelligence. The company also launched Pollen Mobile in 2022, a decentralized data network used to enable operations in remote areas with limited connectivity.
By integrating SafeAI’s multi-sensor approach—which combines radar, lidar, and cameras—Pronto will now offer a tiered portfolio to customers ranging from small quarries to large mining operations. SafeAI’s safety system, which is certified to ASIL D standards, will also become part of Pronto’s technology offering.
Pronto already counts Heidelberg Materials North America as a major customer and plans to deploy over 100 autonomous trucks in Brazil under a recently announced agreement. With the addition of SafeAI’s technology and team, Pronto is positioning itself to meet a broader range of industry needs while reinforcing its international expansion strategy.