Mach9’s new software platform produces 2D and 3D maps from mobile LiDAR 30x faster than existing solutions. To support the growth, the Pittsburgh-based company has upgraded its website, hired key engineering and sales leaders, moved into a new headquarters, and established a presence in Silicon Valley.
Mach9, the company building the fastest technologies for geospatial production, launched its first product. The new product leverages AI and computer vision to produce 2D and 3D CAD and GIS engineering deliverables faster than ever before. This product launch comes amidst Mach9’s pivot to a software-first business model – a move driven by the rising demand for tools that accelerate geospatial data processing and analysis for infrastructure management.
“The organizations that own and manage our infrastructure are dependent on high quality maps. New mapping technologies, like mobile LiDAR, have transformative potential for engineering and construction firms, departments of transportation, electric utilities, railroads, and other government entities. However, the high costs and long wait times required to generate mapping deliverables are hampering the broad adoption of these amazing tools,” says Alexander Baikovitz, co-founder and CEO. “Our goal at Mach9 is to unlock this potential by creating a geospatial production platform for those that need high quality maps and actionable data fast.”
The rapidly growing geospatial technology industry has been driven by recent advances in data collection via “reality capture” solutions such as 360 degree cameras, remote sensing on drones, and mobile LiDAR. These systems generate unprecedented three dimensional data on real-world objects such as buildings, roads, highways, railroads and above ground utilities – setting a new standard for 2D and 3D maps that is more accurate and extensive than conventional mapping methods. However, these massive data sets, which are often composed of both high resolution imagery and LiDAR point clouds, are highly-complex and require labor and time intensive processes in order to convert them into usable maps and “Digital Twins”.
Mach9 has been developing advanced mapping and data collection tools since the company’s founding in 2021 at Carnegie Mellon University. The company’s founders Alexander Baikovitz, Haowen Shi, Michael Mong, and Zachary Sussman met during their time at CMU’s world-famous Robotics Institute. Together they realized that their combined experiences developing complex robotic systems for autonomous mapping and mobility could be leveraged to help infrastructure organizations adopt technologies that ultimately improve everyday life.
“We found that instead of saving time and money, many infrastructure organizations were burdened with labor-intensive data manipulation,” says Zach Sussman, Mach9 co-founder and head of software engineering. “We leveraged our deep understanding of AI and computer vision capabilities to build a software solution that intelligently combines information from cameras, LiDAR, and other sources to create a holistic and comprehensive picture of the world. Ultimately, it is a very elegant solution to a complex problem that drastically reduces the time to create 2D and 3D maps.”
Geospatial industry experts and leaders that are interested can request a demo of the platform, which is currently in “beta” with a select group of customers, by visiting the company’s new website at www.mach9.ai and completing a request form.
Coinciding with the product launch, Mach9 is strategically investing in growing the company. They recently moved corporate headquarters to Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood, centrally located within the thriving Pittsburgh robotics network, and established a presence in Silicon Valley with the hire of Josh Dague, a seasoned software engineer.
Baikovitz says, “As we push the bleeding edge of mapping technology, we are planning further expansion later this year by adding more of the industry’s most talented engineers and computer vision experts to our team. Mach9 is hiring!”.
ABOUT MACH9:
Mach9 is serving the rapidly growing geospatial industry with the fastest solutions for geospatial production and analysis. Mach9’s latest product produces 2D and 3D engineering deliverables from mobile LiDAR 30x faster than current processes. Mach9 is built upon decades of research in computer vision and artificial intelligence from Carnegie Mellon University. The company has raised $2.5mm in venture capital led by Tiger Global, Soma Capital, and Y Combinator.
