NVIDIA, Komatsu partnership adds drones, AI to the jobsite

Dive Brief:

Tech giant NVIDIA is joining forces with construction equipment-maker Komatsu to add drones and artificial intelligence to the jobsite, according to NVIDIA.
The partnership will implement drones to collect and analyze data that could help streamline operations while increasing worker safety.
NVIDIA's AI platform will take data relayed from drones to provide insight into how much equipment costs while in use and stationary, and will send real-time data on workers' interactions with each other, machinery and objects on the site. The technology could eventually mimic the same systems used in vehicles to prevent collisions and increase safety.

Dive Insight:

Jobsites and the equipment on them are becoming increasingly smarter as construction stakeholders work to bring the industry up to today's more technologically advanced standards.

This development, part of Komatsu's Smart Construction platform, represents yet another step forward in the company's push toward a smarter jobsite. Smart Construction, part of Japan's i-Construction initiative, aims to speed up innovation in construction technology to help alleviate the country's skilled labor shortage. The platform made its U.S. debut last year, just before the International Organization for Standardization's adoption of a mixed-fleet telematics standard from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and Association of Equipment Management Professionals.

Since the standard's approval, more telemetry solutions providers are exploring ways to streamline the data exchange process between equipment and platforms. John Deere and EquipmentShare are among those investing resources into the expanding telematics market, which according to estimates from Statista, could reach $103 billion by 2022.

Komatsu, particularly, has been on the cutting edge of smart jobsite solutions. In 2015, the company joined with drone company Skycatch to automate the transferral of project data. And earlier this year, Komatsu announced a partnership with software maker Trimble to allow 3-D jobsite data to be shared more easily. More partnerships are likely as construction companies turn to new technologies and systems to improve their productivity and efficiency.