IRVING, Texas — Caterpillar and FieldAI announced a collaboration today to put physical AI, autonomy, and robotics onto industrial jobsites and factory floors.

Photo courtesy of Caterpillar / FieldAI.

The partnership pairs Caterpillar’s engineering, dealer network, and operational data with FieldAI’s Field Foundation Models, robot-agnostic autonomy software meant to run in messy, changing environments where traditional automation stalls. Early applications listed by Caterpillar: autonomous inspections, jobsite and facility digital twins, better situational awareness, and operational optimization through simulation and AI-driven insights. The companies say they will use NVIDIA accelerated computing and NVIDIA Omniverse, plus high-fidelity digital twins built from live operational data.

“The future of our industries will be shaped by how effectively we combine human expertise with AI-powered machines,” said Jaime Mineart, Caterpillar’s chief technology officer. John Tuntland, senior vice president of Caterpillar’s Integrated Components Division, said the work is part of modernizing manufacturing from design to delivery.

FieldAI founder and CEO Ali Agha said Caterpillar’s jobsites and plants are the environments FieldAI already deploys into, “with deployments spanning hundreds of sites worldwide.” “This collaboration brings leading physical AI capabilities to a leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment. Together, we are shaping the next century of AI-enabled heavy industry.

FieldAI, based in Irvine, California, sells autonomy software rather than its own robots. The company says its models combine data-driven AI with physics-based reasoning so machines can operate without maps, GPS, or a preset path. It has raised more than $400 million from investors including Bezos Expeditions, Khosla Ventures, NVentures (NVIDIA), Temasek, and others. Earlier this year it partnered with Boston Dynamics on construction deployments and expanded its NVIDIA Omniverse work.

Caterpillar pointed back to its CES vision of a “jobsite of the future” run by intelligent machines, connected workflows, and digital insights. The company reported $67.6 billion in 2025 sales and revenues.

Source: Caterpillar / FieldAI press release, September 2, 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/caterpillar-and-fieldai-advance-ai-powered-industrial-innovation-302866862.html