In the past, competition among construction machinery enterprises often relied on comparisons of hardware parameters, with indicators such as power, load capacity, and operating efficiency being the key focus areas for companies. Today, as times have changed, "hardware competition" has become a thing of the past, and the era of "intelligent racing" has officially begun, with major global leading enterprises making intelligent development their primary strategic goal.

Caterpillar

Caterpillar CEO Joe Creed will deliver a keynote speech at CES 2026

Global construction and mining equipment giant Caterpillar recently announced that its Chief Executive Officer, Joe Creed, will be invited to deliver a keynote speech at the 2026 International Consumer Electronics Show!

The International Consumer Electronics Show has traditionally been an arena for consumer electronics products such as smartphones and smart home devices, as well as smart mobility-related products. In recent years, although construction machinery enterprises have also exhibited, a CEO-level leader delivering a speech at a core session is a first in the show's history.

By choosing the International Consumer Electronics Show, a stage where global high-tech brands in consumer electronics and automobiles gather, Caterpillar's ambition is self-evident. This is equivalent to Caterpillar intending to prove to the capital market and the public that in the future, Caterpillar will no longer be merely a traditional manufacturing enterprise, but also a high-tech solutions company deeply integrating artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, energy technology, and digital twins.

Hitachi Construction Machinery

Hitachi Construction Machinery's new brand icon LANDCROS

Coincidentally, Hitachi Construction Machinery also recently demonstrated to the public its determination to develop intelligence.

On October 28, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. announced plans to change its corporate name to LANDCROS Co., Ltd. and its brand to LANDCROS, effective April 1, 2027.

Hitachi Construction Machinery stated: Currently, the construction and mining industries are facing many complex and severe social issues, including labor shortages, increasingly strict environmental regulations, rising operating costs, and the renewal of aging infrastructure. Today, in the face of a rapidly changing market environment, relying solely on a traditional hardware-centric business structure can no longer meet market demands; the company must further evolve into a true "solution provider." We will not only be committed to developing next-generation construction machinery that integrates advanced technologies such as AI, robotics, sensing, and communications, but also provide comprehensive support throughout the equipment lifecycle through services and digital solutions, helping customers solve various problems in their operations and production.

Zoomlion

In recent years, Zoomlion has continued to invest in R&D and accelerate the application of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things. Its number of invention patent applications in digital technologies such as big data and cloud computing ranks first in the industry, and its industrial internet level is at the forefront of the industry, leading the country in empowering the aggregation and sharing of industrial resources, the integrated utilization of industrial data, and industrial production and services.

Zoomlion stated that the AI era will drive the deep integration of the construction machinery industry with the Internet, big data, cloud computing, and other fields, forming a new industrial ecosystem.

In 2024, Zoomlion launched two humanoid robot prototypes and will establish a robot training ground and a simtireal simulation platform. Relying on Zoomlion's industry-unique "trinity" technology foundation of industrial internet, artificial intelligence, and intelligent robots, every product of Zoomlion is expected to achieve "robotization" in the future, possessing single-machine intelligence and fleet collaboration capabilities, reshaping the industry's competitive landscape.

XCMG Machinery

XCMG Machinery believes that with the maturity of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies, the intelligence of construction machinery is not only a technological upgrade but also the core direction of industry transformation. Future construction machinery products will certainly be intelligent embodied robots.

At present, some equipment of XCMG Group has achieved L4-level autonomous driving. Especially in high-risk operation scenarios such as mining and asphalt paving, unmanned equipment will greatly improve construction efficiency and safety. XCMG Group has also launched a "Smart Management Mega-System," enabling different equipment to connect and collaborate through the Internet of Things, thereby achieving a leap from single-machine intelligence to fleet intelligence.

On May 15, XCMG Group officially delivered the first batch of 100 ZNK95 pure electric unmanned mining trucks to the Huaneng Yimin Open-Pit Coal Mine, marking the full commercial operation of the world's first hundred-unit-level unmanned electric mining truck fleet—the "Huaneng Ruichi" intelligent transportation system.

Sany Heavy Industry

"With the continuous development and application of AI technology, the construction machinery industry will undergo unprecedented changes." Sany Heavy Industry stated that from intelligent navigation and remote control to autonomous learning and collaborative operation, AI technology will inject new vitality and intelligence into construction machinery products.

Sany Heavy Industry stated that AI and digital intelligence are important strategies for the company. The company is seizing the development opportunities of the new era, integrating digital intelligence construction into manufacturing, products, services, operations, and other scenarios, and actively promoting digital intelligence transformation. At present, Sany Heavy Industry has launched unmanned excavators, L4-level autonomous engineering vehicles, and unmanned paving and compaction fleets.

On June 18, Sany's unmanned paving and compaction fleet carried out continuous construction for over 480 hours on the Beijing-Harbin Expressway, setting three industry records, including the largest scale (2 pavers and 10 rollers in a fully unmanned configuration, achieving continuous construction of the full thickness of the asphalt pavement), the longest duration (setting a record of over 480 hours of continuous intelligent single-run 24-hour asphalt construction), and the greatest width (unmanned dual-machine parallel paving of 25.25 meters of road width, currently the maximum paving width in the unmanned fleet field).

Shantui Construction Machinery

On June 19, Shantui Construction Machinery held the Shantui AI Strategy Launch Conference and the inauguration ceremony of its Comprehensive Test Center, and launched China's first AI bulldozer in the construction machinery industry. Shantui Construction Machinery introduced that this AI bulldozer covers two major modules: the intelligent whole-machine system and the AI intelligent assistant, and has created nine major intelligent systems around customer needs, covering core scenarios such as power optimization, construction safety, and collaborative operation.

Shantui Construction Machinery stated that after years of technological accumulation, the intelligence level of its products has now reached L3, and it has completed L4-level technology reserves. Drivers will be upgraded from mere equipment operators to operation commanders. In the future, the company will move toward fully unmanned L5, building a collaborative ecosystem of "AI intelligent assistant + construction fleet."

In summary, it is not difficult to find that "hardware competition" has become a thing of the past, and "intelligent racing" is the future of the industry!

Regarding this phenomenon, Su Zimeng, President of the China Construction Machinery Association, stated that the digital wave is reshaping the industrial landscape, and the global construction machinery industry has now entered a new stage of development featuring "digital-intelligent integration." We should use AI technology to firmly establish the safety bottom line and solve construction challenges in complex environments; use intelligent platforms to improve the efficiency of the industrial chain and drive the leap from "single-machine intelligence" to "system intelligence"; and use green innovation to respond to the "dual carbon" strategy and accelerate the development of new quality productive forces in the industry.