Bobcat Focused on Developments in Connectivity, Electrification and Automation
Connectivity, electrification and automation are the three main areas in which heavy equipment manufacturer Bobcat Co. is focusing its development efforts.
Joel Honeyman, Vice President of Global Innovation at Bobcat Co., said the company has been working on solutions for years which meet these technology trends, many of which are now coming to fruition and entering the construction equipment and other mobile machinery markets.
During bauma 2025 — a large construction and mining equipment trade show — Power & Motion had the opportunity to speak with Honeyman about Bobcat’s most recent electrification and automation developments, the role he sees connectivity playing as well as other trends he sees within the off-road equipment industry.
*Editor’s Note: Questions and responses have been edited for clarity.
Power & Motion: What are some of the areas of focus for Bobcat at bauma 2025?
Joel Honeyman: We have three pillars that we [are focused on] — connectivity, electrification and autonomy. And we've been that way for a number of years. We launched the T7X all-electric loader [in 2022]; we've been talking about some other new features and now those are coming to fruition. What was high level technology [we were] working on, now we're…taking pieces of them and putting them into different areas and different solutions.
We feel like technology needs to come out to the customer a block at a time because otherwise you go past what people can sometimes comprehend, or they can even execute or even we can as a manufacturer.
One of the things that we're going to be launching this year is a collision warning and avoidance system on some of our loader products. We've been talking about it for a few years, and now it is going to go into production later this year. Then we can combine that with some other [technologies]. Later this year, we'll have a limited launch of an autonomous zero-turn mower that will have that warning and avoidance system on it but then we're [also] incorporating mass control; combining those together will create a new solution, and that'll be one of our first vehicles we’re going to do for autonomy. We're starting to take these pieces we've been working on for a few years, and now we're putting them together to create new solutions.
Watch our interview below with Moog Construction, who collaborated with Bobcat, to learn more about the design of the T7X all-electric compact track loader.
Power & Motion: Why was a zero-turn mower chosen as the first implementation of autonomy?
Joel Honeyman: It might be the easiest to [automate]. If you think about a track loader, we have 200 different attachments, different soil conditions, [lots of differentiators to consider]. So, we thought maybe we should start with a mower first for this technology. We invested in a startup called Greenzie which has helped with the autonomous mower and another startup Ainstein which is helping with the collision warning and avoidance system. Combining those together, it’s a place to start and learn. Also, we see the consumer mower industry doing Roomba style mowers, so it’s an easier step for customers to go up to [a larger autonomous mower].
Power & Motion: I’m sure it helps that, like agriculture, there are paths for the mower to follow.
Joel Honeyman: Yes. One of the other things we’ve talked about publicly is our investment in Agtonomy which is doing a variance of Bobcat tractors with AI (artificial intelligence) autonomy for agriculture. There are pilots of those tractors that are going to take place this summer; we’re going to monitor that and learn what that technology is [capable of] and then see how it can be applied to different areas.
Learn more about the Bobcat AT450X autonomous and electric tractor which was launched at CES 2024.
Power & Motion: We’ve been having a lot of discussions with companies, especially those in the fluid power space, about where and how they see AI coming into play. Is autonomy possibly that area where it makes the most sense?
Joel Honeyman: It is one area. I’m always quick to point out AI is a tool; sometimes people make it out to be this all-encompassing, revolutionary thing but it’s a tool like anything else.
Agtonomy is using AI for its visual perception system, being able to go down [crop] rows and learn what a tree looks like and tell the tractor not to hit the tree. I say it’s simple and boring, but it’s the technical part that needs to get solved, so we’re seeing pieces of AI being used for that.
Power & Motion: How are you seeing hydraulics continue to play into autonomous and electric vehicles, or what’s changing even in the diesel-powered machines for hydraulic systems?
Joel Honeyman: The EV (electric vehicle) industry, because things slowed down a bit, what actually is happening is we’re starting to see some of the EV components now come into some other vehicles. They may still be diesel and hydraulic, but you might see electric actuation show up in some places, you might see electric drives and electric drive motors in certain areas of vehicles, they could be agricultural vehicles or other off-road equipment.
I think you’ll start to see some of that because people have learned a lot. And the EV industry started to lower the cost because they started producing at volume then the market slowed down so they’re looking for new markets. I think that might be an interesting area that we might start to see some crossovers…and some of that become part of the more traditional vehicles.
Power & Motion: There has been a lot of discussion in the hydraulics sector about the need to improve efficiency. Is that something, as an OEM, that Bobcat is looking for from hydraulics suppliers?
Joel Honeyman: Absolutely. Anything we can do to become more efficient from that side of it, especially when it comes to autonomy because we need to be efficient and precise. Being able to position cylinders, you’ve got to have that for autonomy. Now that technology is coming in [to help with that such as] sensors…as we’re marching toward autonomy.
Mining has been doing it for years, of course on a much larger scale. But certainly, as costs come down it can be scaled cost effectively for our size of equipment.
Power & Motion: Other than electrification and automation, are there other big trends you’re seeing in the heavy equipment industry?
Joel Honeyman: I think those are the most prevalent, and connectivity is another one. We’re going to see a lot more connected not just vehicles but also attachments and tools on the job site. The cost of connectivity is really coming down and there’s a lot of interesting technologies that are making it easier and cheaper. There’s a practical question of whether something needs to be connected, but if I’m a large job site I want to know where a tool or an attachment is and I can just walk up to it, there’s a value for someone there.
Again, the intersections of these technologies is where real innovation will happen. You start taking some electrification pieces and autonomy and connectivity, and then those combined together is where we’re starting to see some really interesting solutions.
I think the last 3 or 4 years there was a rush to work on EV and now there’s maybe a little more emphasis on autonomy. So, I think we’re equalizing a little bit more when it comes to technological developments.
