Company scores again with autonomous site preparation.
During the Trimble Dimensions 2023 conference, we heard about how Trimble has completed its first test of a fully autonomous soil compactor on a live jobsite, marking a step in the company’s path to having autonomous vehicles operating on construction sites.
“The Site C project was the perfect place to begin live testing of the fully autonomous soil compactor because of the cost and safety benefits autonomy will bring to large infrastructure projects like this in the future, and because of the willingness of the project owner and contractor to use new technology on their jobsite,” said Cameron Clark, earthmoving industry director for Trimble’s civil infrastructure solutions. “We are pleased that this initial testing reinforces our philosophy that autonomous technology will play an important role in delivering a cheaper, faster, safer and greener future for the construction industry.”
Who better to precisely prepare a site than the company that’s synonymous with accurate land survey equipment? Trimble claims to keep its lead over the competition, with 2 mm accuracy over enough kilometers to encompass business campuses, airports, stadiums along with their vast parking lots, and more. The LiDAR and camera sensors, combined with Trimble’s unique fixation on the ground, is what gives Trimble an advantage.
Contractors in this project include ACCIONA Infrastructure Canada Inc. and Samsung C&T Canada Ltd. The contributions of ACCIONA and Samsung include the creation of an earthen dam, diversion tunnels and a roller-compacted concrete foundation for the site’s generating station and spillways.
When finished, the hydroelectric dam will supply northeastern British Columbia with 1,100 megawatts of electricity a year, sufficient for 450,000 homes or 1.7 million electric vehicles, according to Trimble.
“Autonomy plays an important part in Samsung’s vision of a more sustainable future, so it was thrilling to have a fully autonomous compactor being put to the test alongside our fleet of equipment with an operator on this project,” said Yunki Kim, group leader of the Construction Automation Team at Samsung C&T.
Autonomous vehicles also help alleviate a worldwide shortage of skilled construction workers, a source of pain cited by every design, build and construction firm heard from.