While industries such as mining and material handling are further along, Danfoss Power Solutions sees significant opportunities in other off-highway sectors. (Photo: Danfoss Power Solutions)

Electric and hydraulic power solutions provider Danfoss Power Solutions has invested heavily in the autonomous machines segment and, according to its head of autonomous vehicles, Peter Bleday, the move is paying off.

Sitting down with him to discuss the growth of autonomy within the construction industry, we start by asking what it means for operators, as smart machines become increasingly adept at tackling construction applications by themselves.

Bleday says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a question of replacing labour. That鈥檚 not our goal.

鈥淚ncreasing autonomy makes the individual worker more valuable and more productive.

鈥淭here was a panel debate recently with six different general contractors discussing technologies they鈥檙e looking at to make the people and machines they have more productive and able to do the job with more precision.

鈥淎lso, maybe five or six years ago, where a lot of this technology was proof of concept - let鈥檚 see if it works 鈥� now we鈥檙e starting to see it roll out into more production level and production capabilities.

鈥淭here are still limits on the use cases, but where it is being used, it definitely is addressing the skilled labour shortage.鈥�

Levels of autonomy

One of the big questions for autonomy in the construction arena is the huge variety of applications that machines on the jobsite have to undertake, as well as the range of environments in which they are undertaken.

So, can levels of autonomy currently being rolled out make these tasks more efficient? And how much will construction businesses have to adapt their working practices to accommodate new technologies?

Bleday says, 鈥淐onstruction as a whole is kind of a wide river to ford, in terms of the different applications and the different things that can be done.

Autonomous Custom Engineering Services (ACES) can supplement an OEM鈥檚 engineering team during autonomous and semi-autonomous product development. (Photo: Danfoss Power Solutions)

鈥淚 think what we鈥檙e already seeing is that applications like trenching, like building wind turbine foundations, those which are relatively repetitive and cookie cutter, even some applications within housebuilding, is that robotics and autonomy can add a lot of value.

鈥淎s an example, you can have a soil compactor running overnight and when you come in the next day, it鈥檚 already done its job. It can be as simple as just being more productive when you shut down a road at night.

鈥淵es, we are going to have to adjust to the fact that the workflow and the work stream is going to be different.

鈥淚t has to be seen as part of the process from the start; factored directly into the project.鈥�

Investment in technology

One of the challenges for companies operating in this field is knowing how hard and how fast to push ahead with research and design, especially given the historically traditional nature of construction and the sometimes lengthy processes of legislating for new technology.

Bleday seems relaxed about this, saying, 鈥淲e鈥檝e been significantly investing in this capability. Just from a team size, we鈥檙e now ten times the size and we鈥檝e really been focusing on how we create value for our OEM customers.

鈥淔irstly, it鈥檚 about software tools 鈥� building these tools and looking at the basic capabilities that vehicles have to localise and to navigate.

鈥淭his is relatively similar, be it the construction or agriculture industries. Is GPS available, is it not available, how would we deal with that?鈥�

On the autonomy journey

And in terms of where Danfoss sits in the autonomy space, he says, 鈥淣ot every OEM has autonomous software engineering services in-house.

Peter Bleday is head of autonomous vehicles division at Danfoss Power Solutions. Photo: Danfoss

鈥淓ven if they have the resources to build an in-house team or to acquire an autonomous software company, they鈥檙e starting from scratch. They鈥檙e maybe three to five years behind everybody else.

鈥淲e can come in and support them, either in building their application or even bringing it to one of our application development centres and taking on the proof of concept for them.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a team [Danfoss Autonomous Custom Engineering Services] that we鈥檝e launched earlier this year and we鈥檝e already had some good traction and we鈥檙e building it up.

鈥淎nd the last piece is Danfoss鈥� core business. As we look to not just the software that鈥檚 needed and the services that are needed for autonomy to happen, but also the hardware that鈥檚 needed, whether it be more advanced displays, remote controls and electronics, all the way down to steer by wire, control valves and pumps and everything along those lines.

鈥淥ur overall portfolio has been increasing to be more technologically capable and more easily controlled by electronics.

鈥淭hat technology drive is going to be crucial. Whether you鈥檙e the smallest OEM building construction equipment or the largest, you鈥檙e going to need to start incorporating more and more of these capabilities.鈥�

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Peter Bleday will be speaking at 必赢体育鈥檚 Construction Technology Summit in Austin, Texas, on March 19, 2024. 

For more information on the event and the speaker programme, visit