{"id":257758,"date":"2026-09-25T12:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T09:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/?p=257758"},"modified":"2026-09-25T12:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T09:19:07","slug":"softbank-invests-225m-in-asi-for-autonomous-construction-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/tech-news\/257758\/softbank-invests-225m-in-asi-for-autonomous-construction-venture\/","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank Invests $225M in ASI for Autonomous Construction Venture"},"content":{"rendered":"<details class=\"wp-block-details ticss-586932b6 is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\" open=\"\"><summary>\u25bc Summary<\/summary><p class=\"ticss-0c48f427 has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">&#8211; SoftBank Group has invested $225 million into Autonomous Solutions, Inc., a Utah-based company specializing in self-driving work vehicles.<br>&#8211; The two organizations established a joint venture to develop autonomous machines for large-scale road, rail, and airport construction projects.<br>&#8211; ASI&#8217;s primary software product, Mobius, allows builders to automate mixed fleets of heavy equipment from various manufacturers without replacing existing assets.<br>&#8211; Founded in 2000 by engineers from Utah State University, ASI operates test sites and offices across multiple US locations including Mendon and Dallas-Fort Worth.<br>&#8211; This investment follows SoftBank&#8217;s previous funding of Gravis Robotics, indicating a continued strategic focus on autonomous industrial machinery.<br><\/p><\/details>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#f34c3e\" class=\"has-inline-color\">S<\/mark>oftBank Group has committed <strong>$225 million<\/strong> to <strong>Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (<a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/asi\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"86526\" data-entity-category=\"Technology\" title=\"Learn more about ASI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ASI<\/a>)<\/strong>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/utah\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"12510\" data-entity-category=\"Location\" title=\"Learn more about Utah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Utah<\/a>-based developer of autonomous work vehicles. This significant capital injection accompanies the formation of a new <strong>joint venture<\/strong> aimed at manufacturing self-driving machinery for large-scale infrastructure projects, including road, rail, and airport construction.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The funding structure involves two distinct components. The $225 million investment goes directly to ASI, which plans to use these funds to expand its market reach across the broader construction industry. Simultaneously, SoftBank is financing the joint venture itself, though specific details regarding the venture\u2019s ownership percentages, operational name, and exact scope were not made public. The joint venture\u2019s primary focus will be on civil construction tasks and on-site material handling.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Central to ASI\u2019s value proposition is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/mobius\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"301285\" data-entity-category=\"product\" title=\"Learn more about Mobius\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mobius<\/a><\/strong>, its proprietary software platform designed to manage fleets of autonomous heavy equipment. A key differentiator for the company is its OEM-agnostic approach, allowing construction firms to automate existing machinery from various manufacturers rather than requiring them to replace their entire inventory with new branded units.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTogether, we offer automated OEM-agnostic heavy equipment solutions that let customers deploy mixed fleets of haul trucks, dozers, loaders, compactors, and more,\u201d said <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/mel-torrie\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"301286\" data-entity-category=\"Person\" title=\"Learn more about Mel Torrie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mel Torrie<\/a><\/strong>, ASI\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Torrie outlined that the partnership targets major sectors such as highway development, railway expansion, airport infrastructure, and waste management facilities. The technology is capable of managing a wide range of operations, from initial earthmoving and excavation to vertical construction tasks.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Founded in 2000 by engineers who commercialized research from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/utah-state-university\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"142326\" data-entity-category=\"Organization\" title=\"Learn more about Utah State University\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Utah State University<\/a><\/strong>, ASI is headquartered in Mendon, Utah. The company operates an extensive testing facility spanning over 80 hectares in Mendon, alongside regional offices in <a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/salt-lake-city\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"139648\" data-entity-category=\"Location\" title=\"Learn more about Salt Lake City\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Salt Lake City<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/dallas-fort-worth\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"252013\" data-entity-category=\"Location\" title=\"Learn more about Dallas-Fort Worth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dallas-Fort Worth<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/longmont\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"301288\" data-entity-category=\"Location\" title=\"Learn more about Longmont\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Longmont<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/colorado\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"17104\" data-entity-category=\"Location\" title=\"Learn more about Colorado\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colorado<\/a>. Beyond construction sites, ASI\u2019s technology is also utilized in agricultural settings, logistics hubs, and landscaping operations.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This deal marks another strategic move for SoftBank into the autonomous machinery sector. In August, the conglomerate led a <strong>$200 million<\/strong> funding round for <a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/gravis-robotics\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"281487\" data-entity-category=\"Organization\" title=\"Learn more about Gravis Robotics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gravis Robotics<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/entity\/swiss\/\" class=\"acp-entity-link\" data-entity-id=\"18194\" data-entity-category=\"Location\" title=\"Learn more about Swiss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Swiss<\/a> startup that specializes in retrofitting excavators with self-driving capabilities, further demonstrating SoftBank\u2019s confidence in the automation of heavy industrial equipment.<\/p>\n\n<em>(Source: <a href='https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/softbank-asi-225m-autonomous-construction' target='_blank'>The Next Web<\/a>)<\/em>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SoftBank Group has committed $225 million to Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI) and is financing a new joint venture to manufacture self-driving machinery for large-scale infrastructure projects. ASI\u2019s proprietary Mobius software enables an OEM-agnostic approach, allowing construction firms to auto&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":257757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57,3247,3285,3327,3254],"tags":[258255,258257,258256,253771,253554],"entities":[54905,258258,10847,206963,238003,258262,258260,258261,258259,104384,3515,11983,7359,106995],"class_list":["post-257758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news","category-artificial-intelligence","category-automotive","category-newswire","category-technology","tag-asi","tag-mendon","tag-mobius","tag-swiss","tag-utah","entity-asi","entity-autonomous-solutions-inc","entity-colorado","entity-dallas-fort-worth","entity-gravis-robotics","entity-longmont","entity-mel-torrie","entity-mendon","entity-mobius","entity-salt-lake-city","entity-softbank-group","entity-swiss","entity-utah","entity-utah-state-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257758"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257792,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257758\/revisions\/257792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257758"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entities?post=257758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}