PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Caterpillar is shining a spotlight on their autonomous technology.
Tuesday, the company released its Cat Trial 12: No Hands video.
The video features former pro soccer player Demarcus Beasley and Caterpillar’s 794AC autonomous mining truck.
Both Beasley and the truck go through an obstacle course, highlighting the equipment’s agility and precision.
According to Fred Rio, product manager for construction digital and technology products at Caterpillar, there are over 500 autonomous trucks in service in 18 mines across the world.
Rio said the autonomous truck delivers productivity and safety to customers. He also said that much of the technology is being designed in Central Illinois.
“The next time you’re walking by downtown or up in Mossville, and you see a Cat employee coming out of a factory, it might just be a rocket scientist that was designing some of these very, very advanced systems,” said Fred Rio, product manager for construction digital and technology products at Caterpillar.
He added that more developments are also in the works.
“Caterpillar is investing a significant amount of RND every year, research development dollars, into the pursuit of more and more solutions to make our customers more productive and safer, and many times those solutions do involve a high degree of automation, if not full autonomy,” Rio said.
Memorabilia used during the Cat Trial 12 video and previous ones are on display at the Caterpillar Visitors Center.