Most readers are no stranger to road construction: the reduced lanes, traffic jams, and orange-vested workers that become all too common during certain times of the year.
But imagine the same scene without the orange-vested workers—a fully automated road construction project where drones, machines, AI and satellites combine to remove the need for human labor in repaving roadways.
While it may sound like science fiction, this unmanned roadwork scenario is a reality in China, where a humanless crew of machines successfully repaved nearly 160km of roadway on a major Chinese highway.
“At the core of this large-scale undertaking was an impressive fleet of autonomous road equipment supplied by Sany, a major Chinese manufacturer of heavy machinery,” according to the website Highways Industry. Equipment included an unmanned paver, double-drum rollers, rubber-wheel rollers all operating in synchronized 1+3+3+3 formation, according to the site. “The machines were orchestrated using advanced algorithms, the Beidou satellite positioning system offering centimeter-level precision, and a low-latency communication network that enabled real-time path planning and precise operational control.”
With this Chinese project as a backdrop, we thought we’d look into the recent advancements made in the areas of robotics, AI, and automation to get a sense for what these advancements mean for the future of humans in the workforce.
While many observers marvel at the unmanned Chinese roadwork project, they tend to see it more as an anomaly and sign of things yet to come than as an example of the current or near-future state of affairs.
While China’s example illustrates what’s possible, that possibility isn’t (yet) economically feasible for most organizations. From a purely financial standpoint, it’s probably still cheaper to rely on human labor, at least for now.
“In the short-term, I don’t foresee dramatic changes to the human workforce in areas like infrastructure construction or maintenance just yet,” says David Case, President of Advastar Group. “The kind of technology used in China to autonomously repave a roadway requires a very large up-front investment that is simply not financially feasible for many organizations.”
Additionally, Case points out that while the actual repaving was done without humans, the project almost certainly required considerable human effort, as will most projects looking to leverage technology like AI, robotics and automation.
“While this kind of full automation of the process offers cost savings in the long-term compared to hiring fully human workforces, it also doesn’t completely eliminate the need for human talent,” Case says. Instead, he notes, technology shifts the kind of talent needed, driving demand for “more technical professionals who can design, maintain, and oversee the drones and robots being deployed, and that talent is neither widely available nor cheap to hire.”
For these reasons, Case says, widespread adoption is likely several years away.
Human-replacing technologies often get a bad rap for the perception that they’re “stealing” jobs from human workers. While there are certainly situations where this is the case, a more positive perspective suggests that the types of work non-human technologies are taking on are the types of work that humans would rather not be doing anyway. That work represents the kind of tedious task that keeps them too busy to focus on more important strategic initiatives.
“I recall when we first introduced AI-powered design tools at our web design studio,” says Andy Golpys, co-founder and creative director at MadeByShape, a web design studio in Manchester. “One of our senior designers, initially skeptical, soon discovered how AI could automate repetitive tasks, freeing her to focus on high-level creative decisions,” he recalls. Her productivity soared, and she began leading workshops to help colleagues harness the technology. This experience, he says, illustrated that “with proper training and communication, employees can thrive alongside technological advancements.”
Looking at labor needs from a larger viewpoint, it’s very likely that AI and other technologies will continue to disrupt the labor market for some time. As new tools and processes emerge, humans will become less important for some tasks, while new tasks emerge that require the human touch. After all, someone needs to program the robots and direct their work.
Workers are understandably skeptical of the motivations of organizations rolling out human-replacing technologies. “Why do these companies want to get rid of all their workers?”
But the situation is not always so clear cut. In many cases, new technologies aren’t pushing workers out, they’re being pulled into a vacuum created by labor shortages.
It’s perhaps fitting that the road construction example came out of China, a country facing a demographic crisis as its population ages and shrinks, leaving a looming labor shortage. While China’s labor woes are widely known, they’re not the only nation facing such challenges. Countries around the world are coping with falling birth rates and what that will mean for the labor market in the decades ahead.
In this context, human-replacing technologies become a critical replacement for workers who aren’t being forced out but who simply aren’t available in the first place.
“Finding skilled workers has been a challenge for employers for several years, and there is a shortage of skilled manual laborers in the current employment market that is only likely to become more severe as we move forward,” notes Case. “Integrating robots and other forms of technology into the process alongside a human workforce is one way to maintain the same productivity with fewer people on the team.” Case says that he anticipates that this will be an appealing option for employers in the short term as they adapt to a shrinking labor force and prepare for even more technological disruption.
While the fully autonomous road construction project in China is a striking glimpse into the future of automation, the relationship between technology and the workforce remains complex. For now, the high costs, technical expertise, and human oversight required mean that automation is more likely to supplement human labor than replace it entirely. As industries adapt to labor shortages and the evolving technological landscape, the goal shouldn’t be to eliminate workers but to create systems where humans and machines can collaborate effectively.
The future of work lies in leveraging these innovations to tackle labor gaps and improve efficiency while ensuring that workers have opportunities to upskill and take on roles that machines cannot replicate. By embracing this balance, organizations can pave the way for a future where technology and human ingenuity work hand in hand.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.
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