Stevens adopts Cat 972 safety tech: automated exclusion lessons for plant engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Stevens Equipment Rental has become the first UK operator to run a Cat 972 wheeled loader with Caterpillar’s factory‑fit collision warning package, combining rear object detection radar, a rear-view camera with human-form detection, and automatic motion inhibit. The system flags people with red boxes on the in‑cab monitor and can prevent the loader from reversing if a hazard is detected after the machine has been stationary. Stevens is also retrofitting human-form detection across its existing fleet and adding motion inhibit on larger wheeled loaders, signalling wider adoption of automated exclusion controls.
Technical Brief
- Rear-mounted Cat sensors differentiate static obstacles from moving objects, including pedestrians, in the loader’s blind zone.
- Visual human detection uses bounding boxes on the in-cab display, supporting site exclusion-zone enforcement.
- Retrofitted human-form detection units are being standardised across Stevens’ mixed-age wheeled loader fleet.
- Motion inhibit is being reserved for larger loaders, where reversing impact energies and blind spots are greatest.
Our Take
Caterpillar’s push of new safety tech into Stevens’ Cat 972 fleet in Cumbria lands alongside its AI-focused initiatives like Cat AI Assistant and the NVIDIA ‘physical AI’ collaboration, signalling that UK customers are being used as early adopters for digitally enabled machine safety.
Within our 377 Infrastructure stories, Caterpillar appears frequently on both the product and regulatory sides, and the recent UK Trade Remedies Authority ruling on Chinese excavators suggests OEMs with strong domestic dealer networks, like Cat in the UK, have extra room to differentiate on safety features rather than price alone.
For plant and equipment rental firms such as Stevens Equipment Rental, being first to deploy advanced safety systems on a mainstream model like the Cat 972 is likely to become a commercial differentiator in the UK hire market, where clients are under mounting pressure to demonstrate risk reduction on busy infrastructure sites.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
Related Articles
Related Industries & Products
Construction
Quality control software for construction companies with material testing, batch tracking, and compliance management.
CMRR-io
Streamline coal mine roof stability assessments with our cloud-based CMRR software featuring automated calculations, multi-scenario analysis, and collaborative workflows.
HYDROGEO-io
Comprehensive hydrogeological testing platform for managing, analysing, and reporting on packer tests, lugeon values, and hydraulic conductivity assessments.
GEODB-io
Centralised geotechnical data management solution for storing, accessing, and analysing all your site investigation and material testing data.