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CES 2026 Keynote

Jan 7, 2026

Deepu Talla
VP and General Manager of Robotics & Edge AI, NVIDIA Corporation

Thank you, and good morning, and welcome to Day 2 of CES 2026. You know, at CES, we talk a lot about the future, and occasionally we welcome a company that shows how innovation moves from code and concepts to concrete, steel, and even the ground beneath our feet. Caterpillar is one of those companies. Now, many of us grew up thinking of Caterpillar as the yellow machines that shape highways, mines, and skylines. And yes, they still do that. But today, Caterpillar is here because they are redefining what heavy industry looks like in the age of data, autonomy, and AI. Caterpillar is proving that the most mature sectors in the world, like energy, construction, mining, and infrastructure, can also be among the most innovative.

This company is transforming everything from how equipment is built to how worksites are managed, and it's doing it with the same precision and safety expectations that have defined the brand for more than a century. Think about this: Caterpillar had its centennial year in 2025. In addition to celebrating its past, Caterpillar leaders chose to come to CES to unveil their next century. This is the spirit of this show. That is why Caterpillar belongs on this stage. And today, you'll hear about how Caterpillar is embedding AI and machine learning into fleets that operate in some of the harshest environments on Earth with no margin for error. It's turning data into decisions, autonomy into efficiency, and sustainability into a core business advantage, and doing it all at a global scale.

More than 110,000 employees, operations in 63 countries, and partnerships that reach from construction to energy to defense to space. The leader driving this transformation is someone who knows the company from top to bottom. Joe Creed took over as CEO in 2025 after nearly three decades inside Caterpillar, shaping finance, operations, manufacturing, and strategy. He's not just running the company. He's rewiring it for the future, and today, he's going to share how Caterpillar is thinking bigger, digging deeper, and scaling smarter, and what that means for the next era of industry, so whether you're working in AI, robotics, sustainability, logistics, or infrastructure, this keynote is for you. This is what it looks like when legacy meets leadership and when industrial power meets innovation. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Caterpillar CEO, Joe Creed. Joe, please join me.

Joe Creed
CEO, Caterpillar

Thank you so much. All right. Well, good morning, and thank you, everybody, for joining us. We are so excited to be here with you today. So question: I wonder how many of you came to the show this morning because you're wondering, why is Caterpillar, of all the companies here on the stage keynoting CES? When most people think about CES, they think about what's on the surface, whether that's new devices that you all have in your pocket that you're going to see this week, new chips, new screens, things you can hold in your hand or download in seconds. And when most people think about Caterpillar, they think about something very different: big yellow machines that do the hard work of building the world's infrastructure. So to me, I think it's a fair question: why are the big yellow machines here with the tech heavyweights?

The short answer is this: the digital world depends on a physical layer most people never think about. Every device in this room that you have depends on minerals that had to be pulled from the ground. Every data center behind the AI you're going to see this week or you're going to hear about this week was constructed from the ground up, and it stays online with power systems that provide reliable electricity. Every road, every port, every power line connecting our economy had to be built. That's the invisible layer of the tech stack, the physical foundation for modern technology. That, it doesn't happen without Caterpillar. For 100 years, Caterpillar equipment has quietly built and powered the critical infrastructure that makes progress possible.

So this morning, we're going to show you what happens when this critical invisible layer reaches a new level of intelligence, when AI, autonomy, and advanced analytics move from the cloud into the actual physical infrastructure that the cloud depends on. Today, you're going to hear first how Caterpillar built this layer, from construction then to mining, and finally to power. Second, how we're making it smarter with connectivity and data, and now especially with AI. And finally, how together with partners, innovators like NVIDIA, we're turning some of the harshest environments on Earth into the next frontier for advanced technology.

Because you may think you know Caterpillar, by the time we're done this morning, I believe you're going to see us very differently, and you're going to have a much better appreciation for the invisible layer and the critical role that it plays as the foundation of today's modern tech stack. So let's start with how the invisible layer was built. It's happened in stages. Caterpillar's reach expanded with the world's ambitions. As Gary mentioned, we're 100 years old. We started with construction, helping to build the roads, the bridges, the ports that modernized cities and connected communities around the world. Our yellow iron became the backbone of progress.

We then extended into mining, helping to extract the critical minerals that our world just cannot live without: the copper, the iron ore, the lithium, and rare earth elements behind every modern device in this room, behind every electric vehicle, and behind every battery pack. Then, once again, we expanded, next into power: engines and turbines that keep hospitals, data centers, and essential services online when failure just isn't an option. So today, our portfolio spans millions of products and solutions across the globe, in every corner of the Earth, working in extreme conditions from Arctic cold to the desert heat, from the deep pits to the high plains. So I think it's fine that you know us for construction equipment. That's amazing. But as you can see, that's just where we started.

We've continued to grow from construction to mining, then mining to power, and power to a portfolio of solutions that quietly and reliably enable everything around us. We've built the invisible layer of the tech stack. It's a foundation that we are honored and proud to continue building for the next 100 years. So when people see the big yellow iron, we automatically think about the machines, I love the machines. But what you don't always see is that technology has always been part of our DNA at Caterpillar. Our employees have been innovating for 100 years, since the very beginning of our company. In fact, at one of our centennial celebrations last year, we had a world tour. We visited all our facilities. I stumbled across a great example of this innovation when I was visiting employees. It's from our archives.

It's a cartoon of all things. But it was so amazing that I wanted to share it with you today because it speaks to Caterpillar's culture. In 1930, so 95 years ago, we have to put this in context, one of our employees sketched what happens when a customer's Caterpillar tractor happens to break down with one day left to get the job done. That's a crisis for our customers. It was in 1930, and it is today. But as you can see, instead of driving to town, the customer stands in his living room and video calls the dealer on a television with incredible detail. In 1930, remember, this is 1930. Keep in mind, over-the-air TV had barely been invented. I think it was invented in the '20s, and it definitely wasn't widespread in homes.

As you can see on the other end of that, the dealer is talking to the customer on screen, managing some sort of computer for inventory, which apparently back in the day requires a super cool helmet. A robotic arm then grabs that required part off the shelf, and 25 minutes later, it arrives at the job site. How did it get there? To me, that looks a lot like modern-day drone delivery, a pretty early version of it. So think about that for a minute, put it in context. And the reason I bring this up is, to me, that's amazing. Nearly 100 years ago, someone at Caterpillar imagined video calling, connected diagnostics, automated warehouses, and last-mile drone delivery. Can you imagine working with that person in 1930 with the people around him? They had to have thought he was out of his mind.

But it's that kind of visionary thinking with customer needs at the center. That's what powers progress. It's the same spirit that underpins everything we do at Caterpillar today, just with a lot better Wi-Fi and we don't need that super cool helmet to get it done. A great example of this is our autonomy systems. Back in the 1990s, we started experimenting with autonomous mining trucks, machines the size of houses or bigger. You're going to see sort of a replica of that today behind us on screen, running 24/7 in massive operations on multiple continents in some of the most remote locations on Earth. On construction sites, our 3D grade control systems turn digital blueprints into GPS-guided blade instructions so material moves to exact specifications within a centimeter of accuracy the very first time.

No extra measurements, no fixing low spots, no second passes, just precision from start to finish. And our machines keep getting smarter and safer. Sensors, vision systems, and predictive analytics can help distinguish a person from the background in real time and provide a warning before a close call becomes a life-threatening event for someone's loved one on a job site. All of this rides on a connected fleet of over 1.5 million assets in the field, assets that generate data so that we get better with every hour of operation. So put simply, we're making that invisible layer of the tech stack, the physical foundation that the modern world depends on, more intelligent. Sensors, software, connectivity, and AI are turning static infrastructure into systems that can see, systems that can learn, and now can adapt. That's how the Caterpillar you thought you knew starts to look really different.

Now, let me zoom out and talk about the world Caterpillar is helping to build. Imagine a mine operator who can automatically push a software update to instantly change how an entire fleet of mining trucks navigates a pit wall, or a power producer spotting early turbine or engine stress, adjusting the load automatically and dispatching a technician with the right parts before anyone on the ground even knows there's an issue. The riskiest jobs, they shift to the machines, while people, our people, get to move into roles where their judgment matters the most. And as the system learns and optimizes in real time, efficiency increases, and so does job site performance. And that's what's most critical to our customers. That's what it looks like when the invisible layer gains intelligence, when the physical foundation can respond in real time to what's happening around it. So that's great.

Why bring all of this to CES? Well, interesting, because the biggest bottlenecks in technology today, they're not in software. They're actually in the physical world. AI needs more chips. Chips need minerals that are pulled from the ground. Data centers demand power more than today's grids can provide. And the entire digital economy needs infrastructure that can be built faster, run harder, and stay online no matter what. Those aren't software problems. Those are problems Caterpillar is uniquely positioned to solve. And solving them is actually central to our strategy. In fact, last year, we launched a new strategy to the world in November. And our mission statement is solving our customers' toughest challenges. It determines everything we do at Caterpillar, from how we invest to what we build and who we partner with. And inside Caterpillar, we're transforming how we work.

We're going to use AI to streamline our own processes, optimize our factories, and use digital twins to design and test before we ever cut steel. We're focused on being the advanced technology leader in all of the industries that we serve. We're combining hardware and software, sensors and autonomy, and data now with AI so our customers can work safer, do more with less, improve their sustainability, and keep critical operations running when it matters the most. So today, our goal is to bring that to life for you in very tangible ways, including a first look at something we are really excited about. It's called the Cat AI Assistant. It's an AI platform that's designed to support our customers everywhere they work. Ogi's going to cover that in a minute.

Then Jamie's going to come out and show you our vision for a new generation of autonomous and AI-enabled machines. But before we get to that, I want to mention our partnership with NVIDIA. Behind every product and technology, our company's contributions are often unseen, but they're absolutely vital. In my opinion, NVIDIA is that for AI. You all experience the chatbot. You use the Copilot. You use the image generator. But underneath all that, it's NVIDIA's accelerated computing platform that makes it all possible. Caterpillar is that for the physical world. As I mentioned earlier, every digital experience, every app that you use, every AI model that you're running, every connected device in this room ultimately runs on physical infrastructure. Minerals are extracted, data centers built, power generated and maintained. That is the foundation that we at Caterpillar help build and power. That's the invisible layer.

So when silicon meets steel, the physical world becomes as dynamic and data-driven as the digital one. We're creating that future with NVIDIA, and you can see it in several key areas of our collaboration. I mentioned it. You're going to get to see it momentarily, an AI assistant that serves our customers and dealers at scale, autonomous machines that think at the edge, and digital twins that let us design smarter before we build anything at all, whether that's our own factories or designing and building new equipment for our customers.

But rather than just hearing our version of that story, I thought it'd be important for you to hear how NVIDIA sees this work and their perspective on Caterpillar's role as AI moves from the digital world into the physical world. So at this time, I'd like to invite Deepu Talla, a Vice President of Robotics and Edge AI at NVIDIA, to come on stage with me for a quick conversation. So please join me in welcoming Deepu. Deepu, thanks for being here with us today.

Deepu Talla
VP and General Manager of Robotics & Edge AI, NVIDIA Corporation

Joe, thank you for having me. What an incredible story from Safety Critical. Connectivity isn't guaranteed. Lowest latency is mission-critical. This is why Edge AI matters here. NVIDIA's Open Robotics and Edge platforms, Isaac and Jetson Thor, are built for this very specific purpose. Caterpillar can run your physical AI perception, planning, control, and safety models on these machines. Running right at the edge ensures real-time feedback and no compromise on safety, and ultimately, you'll have a larger model running in your AI factory. You're receiving your sensor data from unseen scenarios. You're learning from these new experiences. You're improving these models constantly, and then these are redeployed and updated on your machines. Caterpillar will operate an incredible robotics fleet at massive scale, and we are super excited to see that.

Joe Creed
CEO, Caterpillar

As are we. It opens up so much opportunity we didn't have before. So I mentioned just a minute ago, we're getting close to being able to unveil the Cat AI Assistant. Ogi's going to talk about it. But without stealing his thunder, what excites you the most about platforms like this one as they move into heavy industry, and where do you see them helping people and our customers the most?

Deepu Talla
VP and General Manager of Robotics & Edge AI, NVIDIA Corporation

Joe, as we all know, AI is more than just chatbots, right? Caterpillar sees this too, and we love what you're building. Caterpillar is inventing a new software-defined industrial vision for the heavy industry. It starts with people, your cab operators, technicians, and fleet managers. This is real work done in the real world. Decisions are physical and costly, and downtime is expensive. Caterpillar has been digitalizing work for decades, and Cat AI is the next step. This incredible assistant is a robot in itself. It perceives, reasons, plans, and acts. It's an expert in Caterpillar's knowledge base and serves as a critical companion to workers in the field. Cat AI will be the digital-to-physical bridge that will close the skills gaps or onboard new hires with the knowledge virtually of a 100-year industry expert. This means more uptime, higher levels of safety, fewer mistakes, and avoids costly changes.

Joe Creed
CEO, Caterpillar

That's music to my ears because that's solving real-world problems for our customers today. Deepu, I just want to thank you. Partnerships like this don't come along very often. We're thrilled to collaborate with you and the entire NVIDIA team as we truly redefine what's possible as we move forward. From autonomous and AI-enabled machines to AI assistant and digital twins, we're taking innovation from concept to the actual job site. Inside Caterpillar, one of the key leaders turning that potential into real solutions for our customers is our Chief Digital Officer, Ogi Redzic. Ogi and his team are building the digital foundation that puts these capabilities to work in our machines, in our factories, and most importantly, on our customers' job sites. Ogi, come on out. Over to you, bud.

Ogi Redzic
Chief Digital Officer, Caterpillar

Thank you, Joe, and thank you, Deepu, for a great partnership with NVIDIA. Amazing. You just heard how AI and accelerated computing are moving out of the cloud and into the physical world. At Caterpillar, we live in that world every day. Just like any good construction project, bringing AI into it starts with a strong foundation, and in our case, a strong digital foundation. That foundation is what allows the Invisible Layer to quickly come alive, turning decades of machine and job site data into elevated intelligence we can deploy anywhere our equipment works. Caterpillar's Yellow Iron is iconic, and our digital teams are proud to write the code and build the applications that go with it. Think of an equipment manager arriving at a busy construction site at 5:00 A.M.

A quick look at our app tells which machines are ready, which need attention, and what should happen first. Think of a technician standing in the mud, miles from the meter shop, facing a drivetrain repair on a machine that simply cannot go down. Our tools can walk him through the job, get the required parts, and deliver that same afternoon. All of that runs in a single unified digital platform we call Helios. Helios is fully cloud-native and event-driven. It brings together data from our global fleet of about 1.5 million connected assets. It sends and receives thousands of messages every second and triggers millions of data pipelines a day to ingest, organize, and deliver this data where it needs to go. It now houses more than 16 petabytes of reusable high-quality data.

It was just recently featured by MIT Center for Information Systems Research as a case study in building digital assets at scale. And that is a digital foundation that lets us move fast and deploy new AI capabilities where they matter the most. It's across the job site, in the cab of an excavator, or on a large mining truck. But our customers' needs and expectations are changing. They have less time to train their employees. Their work is more complex, and they expect simplicity and convenience. And that is why today I am very proud to introduce to you the Cat AI Assistant. Hey, Cat.

Hey, Ogi. How can I help you today?

Can you play a short video showing us how you work?

Sure. Hello. Welcome to the Cat AI Assistant. Try saying, "Hey, Cat," to get started.

Hey, Cat. Looks like fuel efficiency.

Here's your fuel efficiency summary for the last seven days. Total runtime is 7.8 hours. Total idle time is 1.8 hours, which is 23% of runtime. And total fuel burned is 13 gallons.

Hey, Cat. What parts do I need for planned maintenance on my 950 wheel loader?

For your Cat 950 wheel loader, the service due after 250 operating hours requires a standard efficiency engine oil filter.

Hey, Cat. Are any of my machines underutilized?

You've set your target utilization rate at 70%, and your 250 skid steer loader is underutilized.

Hey, Cat. What does this warning light mean?

The warning light indicates an issue with your hydraulic system, possibly low fluid level, high temperature, or pressure irregularities. If the light stays on or turns red, stop the machine to prevent damage. Would you like me to schedule service with your local Cat dealer?

Yes. Cat AI Assistant will be a major leap forward in how Caterpillar supports customers through digital solutions. It'll make it easier for customers to buy, to maintain, manage, and operate their equipment. It doesn't matter whether they're working from corporate headquarters or remote job site. Technically speaking, the Cat AI Assistant is a group of AI agents operating together on top of our digital ecosystem, presented as a single, single assistant, and it's multi-modal, so you can engage with it using speech, text, images, or video. Under the hood, we're building this with Helios on top of the latest AI tech. We're building a fleet of AI agents that can see the state of our customers' fleets, understand what's happening, and take actions through our applications or APIs. What matters most, however, is what this all feels like in real life.

For a customer, Cat AI Assistant is like a proactive partner. It flags machines that need attention, provides custom insights, and makes actionable recommendations. As an example, if a storm is coming, it can nudge you to top up the fuel in your generator so you never get caught off guard. If you're a condition monitoring analyst, it becomes an extra set of eyes on the customer's equipment, alerting them when the maintenance is coming due, recommending the right replacement parts, and helping quickly answer questions so they can advise their customers more easily and with greater confidence. If you're a technician, it's like having a library of a thousand manuals at your fingertips. If you're unsure about a repair, it can walk you through the steps, highlight common issues, and suggest parts required to complete the repair, ensuring that you fix it right the first time.

Finally, for an operator in the cab, Cat AI Assistant is like a knowledgeable copilot. It can answer how do I do this or how do I do that questions on the fly. It can offer tips to improve productivity and reduce errors. That will work whether you're a seasoned pro or it's your first day on a job. That last point is very important. This technology will dramatically simplify operating a machine. It will improve productivity, and it will help keep people safe. Let me show you what that looks like in the real world.

Let me join my colleague Mark Perkes over in the Caterpillar booth. Mark is sitting in the cab of a Cat 306 mini excavator, a machine you've probably seen at some point working along roads or in your neighborhoods, handling anything from utility work to landscaping. Hi, Mark. I know you know this machine inside and out, but what if you didn't? How could Cat AI Assistant help you get started?

Mark Perkes
Product Specialist, Caterpillar

Hi, Ogi. If I was new to this machine, I'd start by asking for help. Hey, Cat. How do I get started?

You are in excavator control pattern. Stick and swing are controlled with your left joystick, and boom and bucket with the right. Machine travel is controlled with the travel levers in front of you. Let me know if you need anything else.

Ogi Redzic
Chief Digital Officer, Caterpillar

You can see that kind of guidance giving the operator the confidence to get to work quickly, safely, and effectively. And let's raise the stakes a little bit. Many of us start our day by turning on the lights, grabbing coffee, streaming the news, checking email. All of that depends on the underground infrastructure maintained by utility contractors, quiet forces that keep cities running, Mark?

Mark Perkes
Product Specialist, Caterpillar

Exactly. And when contractors head out to repair buried cable or install new lines, they face tight timelines, live traffic, and buried hazards. And an excavator of the size that I'm sitting in right now is perfect for that type of job, but it has to be run safely. Now, let me show you an example. I'm here at the booth. I hope everyone comes to visit. But on this booth, we have a simulated job site, and right overhead, I've got some power lines. Now, I want to make sure that I'm absolutely not going to get too close to those power lines. Hey, Cat. Set an E-Ceiling to 13 feet overhead.

Ceiling has been set to 13.0 feet.

Okay. Let me show you how this works. I'm going to raise my bucket, and you're going to see as I get close to that boundary, the machine is going to automatically slow down, and it's going to prevent me from getting too close to those power lines. Now, that's the Cat AI Assistant working to keep me and everybody around me safe.

I'm here to assist you.

Ogi Redzic
Chief Digital Officer, Caterpillar

Thank you, Mark. That was amazing. If you'd like to see more, please visit Mark in the West Hall. It's right in the middle of West Hall, booth 5019, and you can see our AI-enabled mini excavator in action, so you can see how powerful this will be for operators. It will make complex machines easier to run. It will raise the bar on the safety on the job site. We're going live with Cat AI Assistant this quarter. Our in-cab applications are in the final stages of validation with plans to roll this out in the near future, and we're not stopping there. Earlier, you heard Deepu talk about the NVIDIA technology underpinning this work. We're proud to have their latest AI robotics platform, Thor, powering a new generation of on-machine intelligence.

Thor lets us run speech recognition, advanced AI models, and control logic directly on the machine at the edge where the work is done. That means the assistant still works in remote, off-grid locations, in bad weather, and tough environments. We don't depend on a perfect cloud connection. Operators get real-time, private, and energy-efficient AI support on-site. All of our digital technology has one goal in mind, and that's serving our customers, keeping them up and running, providing their operators and technicians with tools to work smarter and faster.

As you've seen here, Cat AI Assistant is about real-world usefulness, seamless integration, and making AI a normal part of daily life. The adage in the tech world is to go fast and break things. We move fast with Caterpillar, but we cannot break things, not put so much on the line for our customers and our communities. That's why we're so focused on pairing rapid innovation with safety, reliability, and trust, and to share a little bit more about the future of safe, intelligent operations, I'd like to invite our Chief Technology Officer, Jamie Miner, to talk about autonomy and how we're pushing that future forward with AI. Jamie?

Jamie Mineart
CTO, Caterpillar

Thank you, Ogi. Earlier, Joe talked about the invisible layer of the tech stack, the physical systems that keep the world running. Ogi just showed how we're adding intelligence to that layer. Autonomy takes things one step further, from intelligence that assists the operator to intelligence that becomes the operator based on your instructions. Imagine a machine the size of a three-story building, weighing more than a fully loaded jetliner, moving mountains of earth without a single person in the cab. Now imagine 100 of them working in perfect harmony 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in some of the harshest environments on earth. That's not science fiction. That's Caterpillar autonomy today. People know us for our heavy equipment, building, mining, powering, and connecting the world's infrastructure. But what most don't know is that Caterpillar has been at the forefront of autonomy for more than 30 years.

Our journey started in the 1980s with a bold partnership with Carnegie Mellon, pioneering early software, GPS, and perception systems that led to our first autonomous truck tests. In the 1990s, our team's advanced capabilities in sensing, positioning, and control became the foundation of what you see operating around the world today. By the mid-2000s, our work with the DARPA Grand Challenge helped us push the boundaries of perception, decision-making, and real-world testing under extreme conditions. And as a result, Caterpillar became one of the first to deliver a Level 4 autonomy well over a decade ago. Today, Caterpillar's autonomous mining fleet is one of the most proven and largest in the world, moving over 11 billion tons of material, traveling more than 385 million kilometers autonomously. That's over twice the autonomous mileage of the automotive industry without a single reported injury.

Now, we didn't take on automating the largest equipment in the world just for the thrill of it, though I have to admit, working on these giants is pretty incredible. We did it because the industry was changing fast, and with it, growing demand, labor challenges, and a constant need for greater productivity. Autonomy helps our customers scale up, control their costs, and protect their people. At Caterpillar, technology always has a purpose. Our operators, our autonomous solutions move operators out of the cab and into safer, more comfortable, tech-enabled environments, delivering real improvements in safety and productivity. Driven by that purpose, we've continued to expand our autonomous solutions across surface mining and underground mining, and even into new segments. One of my favorites is the work that we've done with Luck Stone, the largest family-owned producer of crushed stone, sand, and gravel right here in the United States.

We teamed up with them to bring autonomy to their Bull Run quarry in Virginia. Our experts work side by side, redefining operations, training people, and shaping a solution to best fit their site. Just over a year ago, we launched a fully driverless fleet at Luck Stone. And since then, our 100-ton trucks have safely hauled more than 2 million tons with consistent, repeatable performance. Autonomy has done more for them than moving rock. It has created safer jobs, greater productivity, and new opportunities. Operators and site managers have moved out from behind the wheel and into new roles, managing fleets and optimizing site operations through data-driven decisions. The real breakthrough here isn't just the technology. It's working side by side with Luck Stone to support their people and process changes to transform their operations and unlock the full value of autonomy. Autonomy is revolutionizing mines and quarries.

Now, a 400-ton truck is really something. A 400-ton truck driving itself is really something you have to see to believe. And since most of you won't get that opportunity, I tried to have one roll up here on stage with me. Turns out the stage wasn't rated for 800,000 pounds, so. I did my best to bring it to life for you. That is to scale. To scale. Now, you may all not get the opportunity to stand next to one of those giants, but you've all seen our construction equipment shaping the roads, bridges, and infrastructure that move the world forward. This is where the story gets so exciting. Construction represents a far greater opportunity for autonomy.

These are the job sites you see every day in your communities: dynamic, complex environments where the work is highly visible, the volume is massive, and the impact on people's lives is profound. Construction is a tough business: tight margins, unpredictable schedules, and the constant need for skilled labor. But the safety challenge is staggering. Here in the United States, less than 5% of the workforce is employed in construction, yet the industry accounts for over 20% of workplace fatalities. A few years ago, fully autonomous construction sites felt like a fantasy. Job sites were considered too variable, too chaotic, too hard to map and predict. But today, thanks to advances in computing and AI, many of them powered by partners like NVIDIA, machines can make split-second decisions based on billions of data points.

This accelerates human validation and informed oversight, ensuring speed without sacrificing control, even in the middle of chaos. This is the breakthrough that will transform construction forever, making sites safer, faster, smarter, more efficient than ever before. And that transformation starts now. Today, I could not be more excited than to preview the next era of autonomy in construction: five machines engineered not just to move the earth, but to move the industries we serve into the future. The Cat Wheel Loader, the workhorse for heavy lifting, fast loading, and nonstop productivity. Our iconic dozer, powerful enough to move mountains of materials, yet precise enough to grade to perfection. The haul truck, off-road beasts that carry and distribute massive amounts of material, rock, soil, minerals. Excavators dig basements, trenches, and beyond, truly the Jack of all trades for the job site.

And compactors that make sure your commute to work is smooth by preparing that perfect asphalt map. Not a roadmap, not a concept. Here today and coming soon to our customers. These machines are the backbone of the invisible layer, the essential equipment that maintains and builds the physical infrastructure that moves the world forward. By integrating autonomous operations into them, we're not just automating equipment. We're orchestrating the workflows of complex job sites with precision and reliability. From moving material efficiently to shaping terrain to achieving optimal compaction, autonomy ensures every step is executed with safety, consistency, and productivity. At the heart of this transformation is a new level of machine intelligence and site infrastructure, a digital nervous system for the job site.

Fleets powered by AI, machine learning, computer vision, and edge computing process sensor data in real time. LIDAR, radar, GPS, and high-res cameras work together to create a constantly updated digital view of the site. With millions of hours of ground truth data, our machines don't just see the world. They understand it. These aren't just trucks and dozers. These are intelligent teammates working together, learning and adapting every single day. It's an incredible feat, and it comes from knowing these machines inside and out, from the physics of their movement to the technology that amplifies their efficiency, combined with a clear understanding of our customers' operations and how to unlock that value of technology. We are launching a new era of autonomy. Tomorrow's operators won't just run machines. They'll orchestrate entire job sites, intervening when human judgment matters most. We're creating new roles on the job site.

Tech talent isn't just for Silicon Valley. It's in mines in Western Australia. It's in quarries in Virginia, and soon to be on construction sites in South Korea and road crews right here in Las Vegas. Now, we know this transformation won't happen overnight. It's too big. There's too much at stake. That's why we're investing in a range of solutions that create value today while building toward tomorrow. We're thrilled to preview a customer collaboration live from the Caterpillar exhibit this afternoon at 2:00 P.M. in the West Hall.

This is an exciting event, and we'll showcase how we're working together with WM to bring autonomy to the landfill. It's another significant step forward in the evolution of autonomous solutions of all kinds of job sites: mines, quarries, waste, construction, all developed in close collaboration with our customers to unlock the value of technology and transform their operations. The future of autonomy isn't something we're waiting for. It's here right now, and we're building it. One job site, one breakthrough, one bold idea at a time. With that, I'd like to invite Joe back to the stage to share some final thoughts.

Joe Creed
CEO, Caterpillar

All right. Well, thank you, Jamie. Thanks, Ogi and Mark. I mean, I have to admit, Jamie gets the coolest special effects of all of us. So it's pretty cool. So today, you've heard a different kind of CES story. We started today talking about the invisible layer and how Caterpillar builds and keeps it running. We saw that layer is gaining intelligence with sensors, software, connectivity, and now especially with AI. Platforms like our Helios and the Cat AI system are going to help customers see more, decide faster, and work more safely. And autonomy, it's reshaping what's possible in mining.

And now, as Jamie just showed you, it's moving straight into construction. But here's what matters the most. As the invisible layer of the modern tech stack gets smarter, the people who build and run it don't disappear. In fact, they actually become more visible. New roles are going to emerge, skills are going to evolve, and our people, our people, not the machines, are going to stay at the center of what we do. You saw in Augie and Mark's demo how a new operator can have a knowledgeable co-pilot in the cab instead of a steep learning curve on their first day on the job. That's a real-world challenge our customers have today. We have a ton of technology that's on machines, but customers don't know how to use it. And you heard about autonomy at Luck Stone's quarry and Bull Run, creating safer jobs and new careers.

We have a responsibility to help people grow with this change, to ensure the next generation of operators, technicians, data scientists, and managers have a clear path to these new opportunities. Because when we get that right, we help build a world that's safer, more resilient, and more sustainable for the communities that count on this work every single day. That's why today we're going to take one more step. We're committing $25 million to strengthen the workforce behind this invisible layer. We're going to fund training, education, and partnerships designed to help people transition into the new roles that are created by the latest technology. We're going to work with our customers, our dealers, schools, and local community partners to put this. Thank you. We're excited about it. We're going to put this to work where our equipment operates and where the work has the greatest impact.

So our message today is simple. As we make the invisible layer smarter, we're equally committed to investing in the people who make it all possible. So if you remember one thing today, I hope it's this: Caterpillar still builds and powers the physical world. We always will. But now, in partnership with innovators like NVIDIA, we're making the invisible layer of the modern tech stack much more intelligent. And we're investing just as boldly in the people who make it all possible.

So on behalf of everyone at Caterpillar and our entire team, I want to thank you for spending part of your CES with us. If you want to see more, I really hope you do. Or more importantly, if you want to talk to the amazing Caterpillar teammates that make all of this possible, please come find us in the West Hall. Enjoy the rest of the show and stay safe, everybody. Thank you all for joining us.

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