RC110 JanFeb 2024 - Magazine - Page 27
Telematics and autonomous equipment
Telematics is another incredibly useful tool that contractors have been
embracing. Telematics helps contractors understand how their machines are used, how much they’re being operated, and allows them
to e昀昀ectively manage that 昀氀eet.
“Telematics is the 昀椀rst step to what is interoperability,” Feuling
says. “There’s an ISO standard that will be published next year that
really allows some of that server-to-server communication building
on that machine and grade control system. But then, that is the next
step to autonomy—how all of those things piece together and work
together. If you’re not e昀昀ectively engaging or using grade control
solutions today, or e昀昀ectively using your telematics, you’re not going
to be ready for when we get to the autonomy down the line. We’re
seeing a lot of automated features. We’re not necessarily at the fully
autonomous jobsite yet, but we have bits and pieces.”
Some of the autonomous equipment that has started to roll out into
the marketplace and on to jobsites include autonomous rollers and
autonomous compactors.
“It’s those repetitive tasks that end up being automated 昀椀rst.
Whereas, when you talk about construction, it is such a broad scope—
even when you talk about just road building,” Feuling says. “No two
road projects are the same, and now when you start to try to 昀椀gure
out how we can automate some of these things, that goes back to
your digital control systems, which is what fed your machine control,
which is pulling o昀昀 of your telematics to get you to this interoperability piece. We’re seeing a lot of those things happen, collectively and
interwoven. That’s where we’re going. We’re going to a place where
some of these things are all coexisting together.”
Leading-edge or bleeding-edge?
While all contractors want to be equipped with the best technologies
available in the marketplace to remain competitive, embracing the
latest and greatest equipment and software can come with some risk,
and that’s not for everyone.
“Some technologies out there are being sold prematurely. So, we’re
a little cautious about what we jump into, because if a system sounds
too good to be true, and doesn’t provide the proper ROI, then we have
a tendency to ween it out,” Hoban says.
Scott says companies will need to embrace the latest technologies
– and the change that comes with them – to continue to do well in the
road building sector in the future.
“They have to adapt, and they are adapting. I’ve always said that
about this industry, if they see a better, innovative way of doing
things, they adapt. That’s sort of the beauty of the industry,” he says.
As for All-Roads Construction, Stephens expects his company
will continue to embrace the latest technologies as long as they come
with a reasonable amount of risk. He notes that any company that is
planning on embracing leading-edge technologies should be selective
when choosing which of their teams lead the initiative.
“When you’re proving out technologies for your own company,
make sure you’re taking your leading team that is pro technology to
do that,” he says.
Solutions for a
better tomorrow.
We are proud to be recognized as a
2024 Platinum badge recipient on
ReNew Canada’s Top100 Infrastructure Projects.
teamcomtech.com
RENEWCANADA.NET
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 – RENEW CANADA 27
