Demonstration Test of Autonomous Loading and Transportation through Coordination of Excavators and Crawler Dumpers

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Toshiro Watabe; hereinafter "Sumitomo Heavy Industries"), Sumitomo Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Isamu Mitsuhashi; 100% owned by Sumitomo Heavy Industries; hereinafter "Sumitomo Construction Machinery"), and Fujita Corporation (Head Office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Yoji Okumura; hereinafter "Fujita") jointly conducted a demonstration test on the automation of earthmoving and transportation at construction sites through the coordination of autonomous (Note 1) excavators and autonomous crawler dumpers. The purpose was to evaluate the practicality of automating earthmoving, verifying whether different autonomous construction machines could coordinate to complete the work cycle of "excavation → loading → transportation → unloading" under instructions from a construction management system. The result confirmed that operations could be safely carried out by a single system operator without any contact between machines.

*You can also watch an overview of this test in a video from the URL below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7iYZbNFRVE (Sumitomo Heavy Industries YouTube Channel)

[Background of the Initiative]
The construction industry faces challenges in responding to labor shortages due to a decrease in young workers and an aging workforce, as well as improving productivity. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is promoting i-Construction 2.0 (Note 2), and construction machinery manufacturers and general contractors are also advancing various initiatives towards construction automation.

Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Sumitomo Construction Machinery have been independently developing autonomous hydraulic excavators (autonomous excavators) (Note 3) that operate autonomously according to their surroundings, and have been exploring the possibility of linking them with construction management systems that provide operational instructions to multiple construction machines.

Fujita has been engaged in demonstration experiments through programs such as the Cabinet Office's Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (hereinafter "SIP") (Note 4), where multiple construction machines autonomously perform construction based on instructions from its own construction management system, and has been exploring the applicability to construction machinery in collaboration with manufacturers.

Against this background, the three companies repeatedly discussed with the aim of labor saving and sophistication of construction sites. They connected Sumitomo Heavy Industries' and Sumitomo Construction Machinery's autonomous excavators and autonomous crawler dumpers developed through the SIP initiative to Fujita's construction management system, and verified the automation of earthmoving and transportation.

[Overview of the Demonstration Experiment]
This demonstration aimed to verify the work efficiency and safety in the typical work cycle of "excavation → loading → transportation → unloading" by coordinating autonomous excavators and autonomous crawler dumpers. It was conducted from January 19 to February 28, 2026, at the site of the Funabashi City Planning Project Ebigawa Upstream Area Land Readjustment Project Infrastructure Development Work, currently under construction by Fujita in Chiba Prefecture.

[Roles of the Three Companies]
(Image: Table showing roles of the three companies)