CALGARY, Alberta, Sept. 23, 2026 — San Francisco-based PitPro Automation has installed its first automatic tire-changing system at a tire shop in Calgary, Alberta, the startup said Wednesday. The company said its robotic system, first revealed last year, can swap a full set of four tires in under 15 minutes.

The first deployment is at a Kal Tire location, one of Canada’s largest independent tire service chains. Jeremy Conrad, founder and CEO of PitPro, told TechCrunch that the company ultimately plans to expand into other types of automated vehicle maintenance, but he sees a significant opportunity to build a business around tires in the near term.

Tire Shops Face Labor Shortages

Changing tires is “backbreaking” work, Conrad said, and tire shops are facing a major labor shortage. Even when shops find workers for the job, he said, those workers often leave within a few months to a year.

“One shop manager was telling me they had to get special permission to pay more because a Panda Express opened across the street and it took about half their employees,” he said.

Robots Fit Existing Maintenance Bays

PitPro’s system is designed to fit into existing maintenance bays. It features two boxy robots, each roughly the size of an oven, that use a mix of sensors and a robotic arm to locate and loosen the lug nuts. The robots store the lug nuts, remove each wheel, and replace it with a new or rotated tire.

PitPro has primarily discussed plans to deploy its tire-changing robots with commercial fleets. Conrad said the startup remains focused on that line of business and has former Ford Pro executive Ted Cannis as an adviser. “He’s got relationships with basically kind of every major fleet in the United States, and he’s, you know, been very helpful in making introductions for us on that,” Conrad told TechCrunch.

Tire Chains Offer Recurring Demand

Conrad said tire chains are also a major opportunity, not only because of the labor shortage but also because of the recurring demand for tire changes. The demand is particularly relevant in Canada, where switching to and from winter tires is a yearly occurrence for most car owners.

Conrad said PitPro is targeting chains rather than smaller shops because chains tend to have standardized layouts, which could allow wider deployment in the future. Mechanics can also continue using the bay occupied by PitPro’s technology for other maintenance work, Conrad said, increasing the likelihood that shops will be willing to try the system.

Photo credit: PitPro

Calgary Deployment Tests Robot Durability

The deployment has presented challenges, Conrad said. Tire shops tend to operate with their bay doors open, exposing PitPro’s robots to dust, debris and weather. The startup had to account for those conditions both to keep the system robust and to make sure the sensors maintain an accurate view of the tires.

Not every challenge has been expected. During the interview, Conrad shared a photo from the Calgary installation showing the robots almost completely covered in dandelion seeds.

“We looked into it, and it’s not going to be a problem for us,” Conrad laughed. “But it’s just like… I had never thought about that we might need to deal with a dust cloud of dandelions.”