Teleo's autonomous machine technology is gaining traction in material handling applications

Teleo is expanding its strategic focus to deploy autonomous wheel loaders, terminal tractors, excavators, and other heavy machinery into new industries beyond construction. Teleo converts any make, model, and vintage of heavy equipment into autonomous machines. Teleo's Supervised Autonomy keeps human operators involved, enabling one human to oversee multiple autonomous machines at once.The human operator acts as a supervisor, with the ability to step in remotely to control the machine if needed. 

Teleo has secured orders for 34 machines and has secured nine new customer deals in the pulp and paper, logging, port logistics, munition clearing, and agriculture industries. Teleo is also targeting expansion into other industries such as airports, waste and recycling, logistics, and warehousing. Additional orders will expand Teleo's presence in the snow removal and construction industries, including the company's entry into the Australian market.

"From day one, we have been obsessed with building a platform — both hardware and software — that is universally applicable to any make and model of heavy machinery and use case, opening doors to new industries," says Vinay Shet, co-founder and CEO of Teleo. "While construction remains a core industry for us, it's evident that our technology offers significant value across a broader range of sectors. Our machine-agnostic and industry-agnostic approach ensures quick and easy deployment, allowing us to launch at diverse job sites, from remote and bustling to large and small, and from indoor to outdoor environments."

Moving the operator out of the cab and away from the job site environment into a remote central command centre makes the operator's role safer, more comfortable, and accessible to more people. The Associated General Contractors of America estimates that 91 percent of construction firms are having a hard time finding workers to hire, driving up costs and delaying projects. Teleo's technology helps address this growing labour shortage. 

New industries and applications 

The diverse range new industries for Teleo include the following:

Munition clearing

Brice Environmental Services Corporation is an Alaska-based company that removes munitions and explosives on Department of Defense sites nationwide. The company is outfitting a Liebherr 9150B excavator with Teleo's technology for deployment on the western limits of the Aleutian Chain in Alaska. 

Pulp and paper

U.S.-based RYAM is a paper milling company which has placed orders to outfit three Caterpillar wheel loaders of diverse vintage, a 988K, a 980M, and a 988H with Teleo Supervised Autonomy. This fall, RYAM will deploy the Teleo-equipped machines to haul bark and wood chips 24/7 at its pulp and paper mill in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

"Teleo's incremental approach to autonomy enables us to integrate technology that improves our productivity and run our around-the-clock operations more efficiently," says Daniel Porter, senior manager of process automation for RYAM. "The central command center also provides a more accessible and safer environment for our operators, who can oversee multiple machines from the comfort of an office." 

Logging

Finland-based Fin-Terpuu Oy, one of Europe's largest logging companies, has deployed Teleo's Supervised Autonomy on a Volvo L350F wheel loader. This makes it the world's first logging yard with autonomous operations. The company is conducting autonomous tramming of logs from their arrival point to a processing yard. Pick-up and drop-off activities are remote operated.

Fin-Terpuu's active logging sites are complex environments with around-the-clock operations in snow and cold weather, and often complete darkness, as the Finland site experiences three months of the year with no sunlight. The company chose Teleo's solution as a way to overcome an ongoing labour shortage and to improve overall operational safety. 

Port logistics

Rauanheimo, a Finnish port logistics company, has outfitted a Volvo L350H wheel loader with Teleo Supervised Autonomy for hauling bulk materials. Bulk cargo is transported in a loose manner, or within drums, crates, or barrels. The Teleo-equipped wheel loader is moving materials such as iron, wood pellets, or hazardous materials 24/7 to and from ships using remote and autonomous operations at Kokkola Port in Finland.  

Further growth in heavy construction and snow removal 

Following Teleo's 2024 entry into the snow removal industry, the company has expanded its reach with an order from Alff Construction in Bentonville, Arkansas. Alff has outfitted a John Deere 333G compact track loader with Teleo Supervised Autonomy and will deploy it to remotely clear snow for multiple big box retailers beginning in winter 2024. An operator in a remote central location will control the machine for late-night snow removal, working around traditional retail business hours. The company is also utilizing the machine for site preparations, landscaping, and grading. Alff is testing Teleo's technology in order to evaluate its potential for a future expansion across the country. 

Construction and mining company Black Cat Civil has confirmed a contract for 10 Teleo Autonomous machines, marking Teleo's expansion into Australia. Black Cat will integrate Teleo Supervised Autonomy into 10 of its Caterpillar 740EJ articulated dump trucks. 

MS Park Construction, a construction company and wholly-owned subsidiary of PNK Group located in New York, has placed an order for Teleo's technology on eight John Deere 410P articulated dump trucks and two 850L SmartGrade bulldozers. The machines will be used at the end of this year to build a large logistics warehouse site located in Atlanta, Georgia. The articulated dump trucks will perform large scale earthmoving, and will autonomously move dirt across the construction site. The dozer will perform precision grading.