Caterpillar has expanded its partnership with NVIDIA. The collaboration aims to employ AI to transform how work is done in industries such as construction, mining, and manufacturing.

According to Caterpillar’s chief executive officer, Joe Creed, the company is investing in equipping its assets with AI capabilities to prepare them for potential autonomous operations. NVIDIA’s Jetson Thor platform will enable real-time AI inference on Cat equipment, allowing for improved performance and efficiency.

Caterpillar has also unveiled the Cat AI Assistant, a digital tool that provides customers with personalised insights and recommendations on equipment maintenance, parts, and other issues. The assistant uses NVIDIA Riva open speech models to deliver accurate and lifelike voice interactions.

The company is also using its manufacturing digital data platform in conjunction with NVIDIA’s accelerated AI infrastructure to automate and accelerate manufacturing processes such as forecasting and scheduling. Caterpillar is also creating physically accurate digital twins of its factories on NVIDIA Omniverse libraries and OpenUSD, enabling teams to design, simulate, and optimise production layouts and processes.