Caterpillar has spent decades automating mining operations and is now applying that experience to deploy AI more broadly. The company's autonomous offerings include automated haul trucks, drilling equipment, underground loaders, dozers, remote-controlled construction equipment, as well as software command centers, fleet management, and remote terrain intelligence. "We're in this super exciting time where we can take all of that learning from mining and bring it into much more dynamic environments," CTO Jaime Mineart said at the Ai4 conference.
One example is the Cat AI Assistant, which lets field technicians use voice commands to pull up repair procedures, troubleshoot problems, and identify parts needed for repairs. The tool draws on Caterpillar's proprietary data from about 1.6 million connected assets globally and more than 16 petabytes of structured data. The company is also using AI for scanning sites, generating digital twins in manufacturing, and software development, including using AI agents to modernize legacy code, generate and test new software, and identify defects.
Mineart emphasized that deploying autonomous machines requires rethinking workflows and how people work alongside the technology. The company relies on experienced operators to help train AI systems, leveraging institutional knowledge built over decades. As machines become more autonomous, some operators shift from controlling single machines to overseeing multiple machines from remote command centers—a transition that presents a new training challenge for Caterpillar's 118,000 employees.