NVIDIA-Komatsu Alliance Brings AI In Construction Industry

Fortifying its foothold further in the booming artificial intelligence (AI) space, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) recently partnered with Japanese company — Komatsu — to bring in AI computing platform in the construction and mining equipment industry. The collaboration also involves two other companies, SkyCatch, which will provide drones, and OPTiM, which is an IoT management-software company.

Per the agreement, Komatsu will integrate NVIDIA’s Jetson family of miniature computing modules into its heavy equipment and site-management services for improving efficiency and workers’ safety in building projects.

Komatsu will deploy Nvidia’s Jetson AI platform — a credit card-sized device — which will serve as the brain of heavy machinery, thereby helping the company enhance its safety levels. Drone views and snaps captured through cameras mounted on Komatsu’s heavy equipments will be processed with NVIDIA’s deep learning-based AI, enabling the company to track movement of people and equipment, in turn minimizing casualties.

NVIDIA has been clocking solid returns and has soared a whopping 78.8% in the year-to-date period, substantially outperforming the industry’s growth of about 38.9%.

AI to Address Various Construction Industry Issues

It should be noted that last year 300 deaths and 15,000 injuries were registered at construction sites in Japan. Therefore, we believe the inclusion of AI techniques in the construction industry will help address the issue to some extent.

The country already faces huge labor shortage due to aging population. According to the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors, there are 3.4 million skilled workers in the domestic industry (as of 2014), of which roughly 1.1 million, or one-third, are likely to leave over the next decade. Therefore, it is equally important to save the workforce from injuries such that they can be useful for longer periods.

Additionally, the use of AI in the industry will help improve operational efficiency. Komatsu noted it “will use NVIDIA technology to create 3D visualizations of construction sites, showing the real-time interaction of people, machinery and objects. Costly onsite equipment can be closely monitored to ensure it is used with optimal efficiency.”

Increasing AI Adaptability

The application of AI techniques like machine learning, deep learning and natural language processing (NLP) has been gradually spreading across industries. This technology is being aggressively used by data-center operators, autonomous vehicles manufacturers and original design manufacturers (ODM).

The latest to join the list is the construction industry. The recent collaboration between NVIDIA and Komatsu has enough potential to bring in dynamic changes in the construction and mining industry, particularly in countries which face severe labor shortage. Also, we believe the partnership will pave way for robotic construction going forward.

Bottom Line

The recent deal is a win-win situation for NVIDIA. The company’s AI platforms are the first choice among data-center operators, autonomous vehicles and ODM manufacturers. This collaboration with Komatsu will enable the company to be the leader in providing AI technology in the construction and mining space too. NVIDIA will surely benefit from being the first to provide AI techniques in this space.

Some of its AI partnerships in recent times are with Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) , Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) .

NVIDIA currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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