Autonomous Construction Equipment Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2033

This report describes and explains the autonomous construction equipment market and covers 2018-2023, termed the historic period, and 2023-2028, 2033F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global autonomous construction equipment market reached a value of nearly $12.9 billion in 2023, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.60% since 2018. The market is expected to grow from $12.9 billion in 2023 to $20.3 billion in 2028 at a rate of 9.45%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.59% from 2028 and reach $32 billion in 2033.

Growth in the historic period resulted from strong economic growth, increasing development of infrastructure and bridge construction, increased need for safety measures during construction activities. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were volatility in rising construction costs.

Going forward, rapid urbanization, increasing construction activities, rise in government support, increasing number of smart city projects will drive the market growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the autonomous construction equipment market in the future include lack of skilled workers.

The autonomous construction equipment market is segmented by autonomy into partial/semi-autonomous and fully autonomous. The partial/semi autonomous market was the largest segment of the autonomous construction equipment market segmented by autonomy, accounting for 92.9% or $12 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the fully autonomous segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the autonomous construction equipment market segmented by autonomy, at a CAGR of 40.18% during 2023-2028.

The autonomous construction equipment market is segmented by product type into earth moving equipment, material handling equipment, concrete and road construction equipment. The earth moving equipment market was the largest segment of the autonomous construction equipment market segmented by product type, accounting for 41.4% or $5.3 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the earth moving equipment segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the autonomous construction equipment market segmented by product type, at a CAGR of 10.28% during 2023-2028.

The autonomous construction equipment market is segmented by application into road construction, building construction and other applications. The building construction market was the largest segment of the autonomous construction equipment market segmented by application, accounting for 47.2% or $6.1 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the other applications segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the autonomous construction equipment market segmented by application, at a CAGR of 10.43% during 2023-2028.

Asia Pacific was the largest region in the autonomous construction equipment market, accounting for 36.5% or $4.7 billion of the total in 2023. It was followed by North America, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the autonomous construction equipment market will be Asia Pacific and Africa where growth will be at CAGRs of 11.1% and 10.5% respectively. These will be followed by Middle East and North America where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 9.3% and 9.2% respectively.

The global autonomous construction equipment market is highly concentrated, with large players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 78% of the total market in 2022. The market high concentration can be attributed to the presence of large players in different geographies. Caterpillar Inc was the largest competitor with a 28.1% share of the market, followed by Komatsu Limited with 21.4%, Volvo Group with 9.9%, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. with 6%, Kobelco Construction Machinery Co. Ltd with 3.1%, Doosan Corporation with 2.9%, CNH Industrial with 2.4%, Toyota Industries with 1.5%, Fastbrick Robotics with 1.4%, Topcon Corporation with 1.4%.

The top opportunities in the autonomous construction equipment market segmented by autonomy will arise in the fully autonomous segment, which will gain $4 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the autonomous construction equipment market segmented by product type will arise in the earth moving equipment segment, which will gain $3.4 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the autonomous construction equipment market segmented by application will arise in the other applications segment, which will gain $3.9 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The autonomous construction equipment market size will gain the most in China at $1.9 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the autonomous construction equipment market include focusing on developing innovative products, such as autonomous work vehicles, to gain a competitive edge, focusing on using advanced software technologies, such as path planning software, to automate the path of construction equipment, focusing on developing unmanned bulldozers for diverse applications in extreme environments, focusing on developing semi-autonomous compact track loaders to strengthen their product portfolio, developing innovative products, such as autonomous construction robots.

Player-adopted strategies in the autonomous construction equipment market include focus on expanding its expanding its business through new product launches and focus on strategic acquisitions to increase its geographical foot print.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the autonomous construction equipment companies to focus on developing innovative autonomous work vehicles, focus on implementing advanced path planning software, focus on developing autonomous and unmanned bulldozers, focus on developing semi-autonomous compact track loaders, focus on fully autonomous market segment, focus on earth-moving and material handling equipment segments, expand in emerging markets, continue to focus on developed markets, provide competitively priced offerings, continue to use B2B promotions, participate in trade shows and events and focus on building construction and other applications segments.