A Seattle-based AI company, AIM Intelligent Machines, founded in 2021, is developing AI programs to allow heavy construction equipment like bulldozers and earthmovers to operate without drivers. Founder and CEO Adam Sadilek, who spent 9 years at Google working on autonomous machines, aims to power equipment on Earth and future missions to Mars, where AI would be needed for digging and exploring due to compromised human involvement. The company occupies the former SpaceX building in Seattle and has obtained a US Air Force contract to create programs for heavy machinery to perform airfield runway maintenance. Unlike self-driving cars that work off fixed infrastructure, AI-powered heavy machinery requires more complex tech and mapping as it reshapes the environment. AIM has hired former SpaceX engineers, and another startup, TerraFirma, an Austin-based company founded by two SpaceX engineers, raised $115 million earlier this month to semi-automate physical construction.