Hi, we are Sony and Chen, the founders of Pilot Robotics.
Overview
US businesses spend $37B a year on forklift operators, where juniors need years of training and experienced ones are scarce. Pilot keeps the operator in the cab, learns from every takeover, then runs the vehicle autonomously so facilities can keep moving materials when experienced operators are hard to find.
Ask: Introductions to loader-heavy facilities, and heavy industrial facilities.
The problem
Senior operators of industrial vehicles are expensive and scarce. Concrete plants, waste sites, and 3PL warehouses depend on experienced wheel-loader and forklift operators to keep materials moving. The usual ways to add capacity break down:
A concrete or aggregate plant can have enough vehicles and still be bottlenecked, because production hangs on a handful of skilled loader operators.
A new hire can’t cover that seat. They need years of training and supervision before they can be trusted, and experienced operators are hard to recruit, especially for the shifts nobody wants.
Our solution
Pilot Robotics puts a “digital operator” on the vehicle, so materials keep moving without a senior operator in every seat.
A concrete or aggregate plant keeps production running on the loaders it already has. The machine collects, hauls, dumps, and comes back for the next cycle.
The seat gets covered without waiting years for a junior to be trusted. The system learns the job from the experienced operators already on site, then works the shifts nobody wants.
Assist the driver
It warns of blind spots, shows the area around the cab, and helps the driver brake in time.
Run the shift
It picks up material, carries it on a set route, and sets it down with no driver in the cab.
Vision
We will ship purpose-built, fully autonomous vehicles that move materials on the Moon and Mars.
Team
Sony Wu (CEO): Worked training Gemini Robotics models at Google DeepMind and trained as OSHA certified forklift operator. His experience spans robot learning, foundation models, and applying model capabilities to physical systems.
Chen Yang (CTO): Built a hardware brand with ~$1 million in sales and held an engineering manager role at U.S. Bank. His background supports vehicle integration, hardware development, and the practical work of deploying the system.
