Autonomous Construction

quarries · paving · retrofit kits · electric

Construction autonomy runs on the parts of a job that look like a mine or a farm field: a fixed haul road, a surveyed paving line, a grid of solar piles. Driverless and battery-electric rarely meet yet; the overlap is quarries and cabless concept machines.

Two-by-two grid of named construction machines. Driverless on diesel or hybrid base machines: Cat 777 trucks at Luck Stone quarry, Pronto and SafeAI retrofits, Deere 460 P-Tier articulated dump truck, SANY and XCMG unmanned paving groups (China), Kajima A4CSEL dam fleet (Japan). Driverless on battery-electric machines: SANY SKT145Ei quarry truck (China), Volvo TARA hauler, Bobcat RogueX2 concept, HD Hyundai Concept-X2 (Korea). Operator-assisted or remote on diesel: Komatsu 3D machine control, Cat Command for dozing, Teleo supervised kits, Kobelco K-DIVE. Operator-assisted battery-electric: Komatsu PC200LCE-11, Volvo EC230 Electric, SANY SY215E and SY19E, none with autonomy yet. DIESEL OR HYBRID BASE MACHINEBATTERY-ELECTRIC BASE MACHINE DRIVERLESS ON SITE Cat 777, Luck Stone quarry Pronto + SafeAI retrofits Deere 460 P-Tier ADT SANY, XCMG paving groups Kajima A4CSEL dam fleet SANY SKT145Ei quarry truck Volvo TARA hauler Bobcat RogueX2 (concept) HD Hyundai Concept-X2 OPERATOR-ASSISTED OR REMOTE Komatsu 3D machine control Cat Command for dozing Teleo supervised kits Kobelco K-DIVE remote Komatsu PC200LCE-11 Volvo EC230 Electric SANY SY215E, SY19E Red: China. Gold: Japan, Korea. Lower right: electric, no autonomy yet.
Pronto and SafeAI
Merged July 2025
Heidelberg Materials
100+ trucks planned
Deere 460 P-Tier
Autonomous ADT, 2025
Hub
Vehicles

Finding

Construction autonomy comes from retrofit specialists, mining-autonomy spinoffs and Chinese paving fleets, and almost all of it rides on diesel machines

Pronto bought rival SafeAI in July 2025, and Heidelberg Materials plans more than 100 Pronto-equipped autonomous haul trucks across its quarries over three years. Caterpillar runs autonomous Cat 777 trucks at Luck Stone's Bull Run quarry in Virginia, and SANY and XCMG run unmanned paver and roller groups on Chinese expressway projects.

Construction fleets are mixed-brand and often rented, so independent kits do much of the work. Pronto's camera-first system and SafeAI's lidar-based stack, now one company, retrofit haul trucks and articulated dump trucks; Built Robotics' Exosystem made excavators trench on their own before the company moved to the RPD 35, an autonomous solar pile driver; Teleo turns loaders and dozers into supervised remote machines so one operator runs several. Japan built its own path: Kajima's A4CSEL system runs automated dozers, dump trucks and vibratory rollers on dam projects, and Kobelco's K-DIVE moves excavator operators to a remote cockpit.

OEMs bring mining autonomy down a size class. Caterpillar's Command for hauling grew out of MineStar; Komatsu's intelligent machine control keeps an operator in the seat while the blade follows a 3D design; Deere showed an autonomous 460 P-Tier articulated dump truck for quarries at CES 2025; Volvo Autonomous Solutions sells driverless limestone haulage at Brønnøy Kalk in Norway. HD Hyundai's Concept-X2 and Bobcat's RogueX2 show cabless autonomous machines, but as concepts.

Electric and autonomous meet in two places. Quarries copy mines: SANY's battery-electric SKT145Ei wide-body truck ships autonomy-ready for Chinese quarries, and Volvo's TARA autonomous hauler is battery-electric. Compact electric machines - Volvo CE's EC18 and ECR25, Bobcat's E10e, SANY's SY19E - are the likeliest next carriers of remote and autonomous features, because they already have electric drive and work on dense urban sites where operator time is costly. Large excavators and dozers stay diesel on remote sites without grid power; see the Construction Equipment directory and Autonomous Construction Fleets.

Programs

Construction autonomy programs

Battery-electric machines are marked in the power column; no construction machine in the ElectronsX equipment dataset carries an autonomy rating yet.

Construction autonomy programs
ProgramCompanyCountryMachinesApproachPower sourceStatus
SKT145EiSANYChinaWide-body quarry and mine truckOEM, autonomy-readybattery-electricSelling
TARAVolvo Autonomous SolutionsSwedenCabless haulerPurpose-builtbattery-electricPilot
RogueX2Bobcat (Doosan)USCabless loaderPurpose-builtbattery-electricConcept
Concept-X2HD Hyundai Construction EquipmentSouth KoreaExcavator and wheel loaderCabless autonomous conceptNot statedConcept
Command for haulingCaterpillarUSCat 777 haul trucks, Luck Stone Bull Run quarryOEM, from MineStarDieselIn service
Command for dozing; Cat GradeCaterpillarUSDozersRemote and semi-autonomousDieselSelling
Intelligent Machine Control; Smart ConstructionKomatsuJapanDozers, excavatorsOperator-assisted 3D control; site digital twinDieselSelling
460 P-Tier autonomous ADTJohn DeereUSArticulated dump truckOEM autonomy kitDieselShown at CES 2025
Driverless haulage serviceVolvo Autonomous SolutionsSwedenVolvo FH trucks, Brønnøy Kalk (Norway)Haulage sold as a serviceDieselIn service
Pronto AHS (with SafeAI)ProntoUSHaul trucks, articulated dump trucksRetrofit kitDieselHeidelberg Materials rollout
Exosystem; RPD 35Built RoboticsUSExcavators; solar pile driverRetrofit kit; purpose-builtDieselRPD 35 on solar farms
Supervised autonomyTeleoUSLoaders, dozers, compactorsRetrofit remote and supervisedDieselSelling
A4CSELKajimaJapanDozers, dump trucks, vibratory rollersContractor-built automationDieselDam projects
K-DIVEKobelcoJapanExcavatorsRemote operationDieselSelling
Unmanned paving groupSANYChinaPavers and rollersOEM, BeiDou guidedDieselExpressway projects
Unmanned road construction fleetXCMGChinaPavers and rollersOEM, BeiDou guidedDieselExpressway projects

By task

What gets automated first

Autonomy follows how fixed the work surface is.

Construction tasks by autonomy readiness
TaskWhy it automatesAutonomy todayElectric fit
Quarry haulageFixed haul road, repeated cycleDriverless (Caterpillar, Pronto, Volvo)Good: charger or trolley on the route
Paving and compactionSurveyed line, repeated passesDriverless groups in China (SANY, XCMG); Kajima rollers in JapanMedium: long shifts, mobile power
Solar pilingPile grid surveyed in advanceAutonomous (Built Robotics RPD 35)Medium
Trenching and gradingDesign surface known; ground changes as workedOperator-assisted; some autonomous trenchingGood for compact machines
General earthmovingGround changes with every passOperator-assisted and remotePoor for large machines far from grid power

Sources

Sources and scope

Scope
Autonomous Construction
Sources
Pronto (SafeAI acquisition, July 2025); Heidelberg Materials; Caterpillar; Komatsu; John Deere (CES 2025); Volvo Autonomous Solutions; Built Robotics; Teleo; Kajima; Kobelco; SANY; XCMG; Oct 2026
Updated
October 2026