Fred Rio, worldwide product manager at Caterpillar’s construction digital & technology division, told Reuters that a remote-control technology, which allows users to operate machines from several miles away, would be available for construction sites in January.
But it’s early days, and such tech remains a niche part of Caterpillar’s operations. Though it does not break out the revenue from technology sales, the rising demand is unlikely to make a major impact anytime soon on the group’s revenue, which stood at about $54 billion last year. He said the COVID-19 crisis had not hit the fortunes of his autonomous business: “If anything, it has got crazier.”Caterpillar and Komatsu hold the lion’s share of the global autonomous haulage system market worldwide.
But Jim Hawkins, general manager at Caterpillar’s resource industries division, said the ability to retrofit had helped drive up sales, because mining companies can buy the hardware and software to make machines operate autonomously without paying the much larger cost of overhauling their whole fleet.
No way anyone buys this silly 'Mars Rover.'
What is up with that fake palm tree?!?
There goes your job.
How many jobs will be lost?