Background: An intermediate step towards fully autonomous construction equipment is “assisted tele-remote operation”. These sorts of operations imply that an operator remotely supports machines that has encountered a situation that autonomous systems onboard the construction machines (CM) cannot solve. Considering teleoperators are not required to continuously monitor the CM in an assisted tele-remote environment, multiple construction machines can be teleoperated simultaneously. For simplification, “assisted tele-remote operation” will now be referred to as “teleoperations”. Volvo Construction Equipment is currently exploring the possibility to teleoperate wheel loaders, articulated haulers, and excavators from a single platform. To do this, primary controls adapted for operating these machines are needed. The primary controls should be designed with the needs of a teleoperator in mind while taking functionality into account, which is needed when CM are both operated conventionally and in tele-remote applications. This procedure will be referred to as relevant primary controls. As the primary controls from three different CM-types are destined to be combined into one platform, the teleoperations platform will be referred to as “3-1 CM teleoperations platform”. The purpose of this thesis project was to propose a relevant solution to primary controls for a 3-1 CM teleoperations platform. To fulfil this purpose, the following two research questions (RQ) where formulated: • RQ1: What are the challenges for teleoperating construction equipment? • RQ2: What defines primary controls in a 3-1 CM teleoperations platform and how can the layout be improved? Method: Using interviews, observations, and literature as qualitative data collection methods, several insights where gained. A scenario for the CM was defined to define the situation in which the quantitative data collection method would be performed. Needs of current CM operators combined with teleoperators have been analysed and listed. Quantitative data has been collected and analysed to design the layout of the primary controls using the objective data as a basis. Result: The research questions were answered with the following results: • RQ1: Insights that resulted in several themes describing how teleoperations can be developed by looking at different challenges it can face. • RQ2: Specifications of the functions included in the new ‘primary controls’ based on CM functions from the company and from teleoperating experiences from several industries. An analysis on how often the functions for the new ‘primary controls’ were used, was carried out. The answers to the research questions were used as a basis to fulfil the purpose of this thesis project by proposing a conceptual solution for primary controls to a teleoperation’s platform for operating multiple CM. Conclusions: It was established that a 3-1 CM teleoperations platform can be developed towards certain CE-machine types. Moreover, additional analysis with experienced operators of each machine type are needed to improve and verify the most optimal layout of the primary controls and platform. Further research is still required to validate the answers to RQ1 and RQ2.

Digital transformation has become a hot topic both amongst practitioners and researchers. However, a vast majority of industries are struggling with collecting the benefits from digital transformation, and the Swedish earth-moving industry is no exception. Identity is seldomly further explored, although it is often mentioned as a factor to consider in digital transformation. Furthermore, the role of the employees is central, yet often underestimated. Thus, this study revolves around heavy equipment operators and their professional identity in digital transformation. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate how the professional identity of the heavy equipment operators affects digital transformation of the earth-moving industry. To fulfill the purpose, this study aims to use a combination of previous theories regarding professional identity. This to explain current and anticipate future supportive and resistive behaviors towards digital transformation. The findings are based on an exploratory case study of heavy equipment operators and an extensive literature review of prior research of professional identity. The findings showcase that heavy equipment operators' professional identity is mainly rooted in their prior socialization and similar values of impacting their surroundings. Furthermore, this study found that concerns of not having the skills required by the changes as a resistive behavior are likely to become more prominent in the future. This is because although digital technologies lower the maneuvering skills, they require other skills. Also, digital technologies are often appreciated although they are often adopted in a reactive way which slows down digital transformation of the earth-moving industry. Furthermore, this study shows that there are multiple aspects of professional identity to consider and provides a comprehensive understanding of the interdependencies amongst the elements in professional identity. / Digital transformation har blivit ett aktuellt ämne både bland företagare och forskare. En stor majoritet av företag och branscher kämpar dock med att framgångsrikt gå igenom en digital transformation, där den svenska maskinentreprenadbranschen inte är ett undantag. Identitet utforskas sällan vidare trots att det ofta nämns som en faktor att beakta vid digital transformation. Samtidigt är individernas roll central i en förändring, men ofta underskattad. Således kretsar denna studie kring maskinförare och deras yrkesidentitet i en digital transformation. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur yrkesidentiteten hos maskinförare påverkar den digitala transformationen av maskinentreprenadbranschen. För att uppnå syftet ämnar denna studie till att först kombinera tidigare teorier kring yrkesidentitet till ett ramverk. Därefter använda ramverket till att förklara nuvarande och förutse framtida stödjande och hindrande beteenden mot digital transformation. Resultaten är baserade på en fallstudie av maskinförare och en omfattande litteraturstudie av tidigare forskning om yrkesidentitet. Resultaten visar att maskinförares yrkesidentitet huvudsakligen härstammar från deras tidigare socialisering och att de även har liknande värderingar av att påverka deras omgivning. Denna studie visade att oro för att inte ha de färdigheter som krävs av förändringarna sannolikt kommer bli mer framträdande i framtiden. Detta beror på att även om digital teknik sänker kraven för manövrering så kräver de andra typer av färdigheter. Vidare så uppskattas digital teknik oftast, men de antas på ett reaktivt sätt som saktar ner digital transformation av maskinentreprenadbranschen. Avslutningsvis visar denna studie att det finns flera aspekter av yrkesidentitet att överväga och ger en omfattande förståelse för det ömsesidiga beroendet mellan elementen i yrkesidentitet.