Talking autonomy and technology in earthmoving with Chris Matthew Commercial Director for Plantforce

“People shouldn’t fear autonomous machinery.”

Said Chris Matthew, Commercial Director for Plantforce at Highways UK, when Peter Haddock spoke to him on the Leica Geosystems stand about earthworks technology, alternative fuels and people.

Chris: “There is a lot our sector can do to make big productivity gains, carbon and fuel savings just by making the most of the technology we have at our fingertips today, like 3D machine control and AI driven safety solutions."

“As we move forward in the future with semi-autonomous and fully autonomous solutions there will be more opportunities for increasing efficiency. And of course, we are now embracing alternative fuels mixing HVO with Hydrogen."

“This has involved two Kobelco Construction Machinery Europe B.V. Hybrid 20t excavators which have recently been successfully converted to dual-fuel hydrogen drive by the expert team at ULEMCo Ltd as part of the Elements 1 Government funded project.”

Peter added: “I always enjoy catching up with Chris as we have been following the CAP journey together now for a number of years. And thanks to this interview I now have 4P’s to talk about in the future, People, Productivity, Price and Performance, all of which we touch upon in this discussion.”