Axis Robotics

Axis Robotics builds safety and perception systems for freight rail. We start with ShoveGuard, a camera system that gives engineers visibility behind the train during shove movements, which are the leading cause of conductor fatalities in America. With a federal mandate for rail, Every deployment collects proprietary long-range perception data that forms the foundation for supervised autonomy on shortline freight railroads. Our mission is to make freight rail safer, smarter, and more efficient, starting with the 600 shortline railroads that move America's freight and are most underserved by existing technology.

Freight rail is critical infrastructure for the United States. Rail hauls over 29% of goods across the country. Shortline railroads alone handle one in five rail cars moving annually, serving over 10,000 customers across 48 states. Yet the safety technology available to these small railroads has not meaningfully advanced in decades. The problem is specific and deadly. When freight trains reverse, a maneuver called a shove movement, engineers cannot see what is behind them. They rely entirely on radio communication from a ground conductor walking the tracks. This communication failure has caused 70% of conductor fatalities, 1,391 shove incidents, and $151M in property damage over the last five years. No deployable solution has existed until now. A big reason why it hasnt existed is that, railroads used to solve this with people, not technology. And now they can’t. The labor force continues to shrink every year with 32% leaving by 2032, also today regulation is mandating railroads to adpot safety technology today or pay $100k for a second engineer, so they’re finally looking for a technical solution. The urgency is federal. Under 49 CFR 218.129, 414 shortline railroads face a June 9th 2026 mandate to deploy compliant safety technology or revert to expensive two-person crew operations. At roughly $100,000 per year for a second engineer, and a structural shortage of FRA-qualified engineers that makes hiring impossible regardless of budget, these railroads have no viable alternative. Axis Robotics is the only company with written FRA confirmation of deployability under existing regulations today. Christian Holt, FRA Staff Director of Operating Practices, confirmed in writing on March 20, 2026 that our system satisfies 49 CFR §218.99(b)(3)(i). Jo Strang, former Chief Safety Officer of the FRA, validated our system and introduced us to five railroads. We built a working prototype and deployed it on a live locomotive in three weeks for under $1,000. Beyond the immediate safety problem, Axis Robotics is building something larger. We see Shortline rail as one of the only federally regulated environments in the United States where perception systems can be deployed on heavy industrial vehicles today without a waiver. Every mile we collect under regulation generates proprietary long-range perception data in degraded conditions (snow, fog, dust) that no competitor can replicate. This data is the foundation for supervised autonomy on freight rail and transfers directly to adjacent high-inertia vehicle markets like surface mining. We are not building a camera company. We are building the infrastructure for industrial autonomy, and federal regulation forces our customers to pay us while we build it.