Bluelight Autopilot Adds Sub-$50K Retrofit Autonomy to Asphalt Rollers

Bluelight Machines, a provider of retrofit autonomy kits for construction equipment, has introduced Autopilot to automate asphalt compaction based on operator-set rolling parameters. The kit is currently compatible with Caterpillar's CW16 and CW34 nine-wheel pneumatic-tire rollers, with additional makes and models to follow based on customer demand.

The package - hardware, subscription and training - is priced under $50,000 and can be bought, subscribed to or rented through Bluelight dealers or Bluelight Direct. Installation takes less than two hours, and the roller can still be run manually with the kit fitted.

Autopilot uses RTK GPS, forward- and rear-facing cameras with onboard AI, and electronic steering control. The operator sets the corridor to be rolled, the speed, the overlap between passes, the number of passes and the distance behind the paver; the roller then follows the paving mat through the shift on its own. The system detects people, vehicles, heavy equipment, cones, stakes and other obstacles, and Bluelight positions it as "an extension of the operator on site," not a replacement. Control runs from any device with a browser, usually an iPhone or iPad.

One detail matters for anyone holding spare parts: more than 90 percent of the kit's components are shared with Bluelight's soil compaction and articulated dump truck autonomy kits, so a single spares strategy can cover mixed fleets of automated machines.

The technology is already on real jobs. Granite is using Autopilot in its Arizona region, and C.W. Matthews Contracting runs it on the I-285 rebuild in Georgia, the biggest paving job in that state. Across its fleet, Bluelight says its retrofit kits are deployed on nearly 200 machines at more than 300 jobsites in 11 countries on five continents, with 1.9 billion square feet of soil autonomously compacted and more than 100,000 automatic safety stops issued for nearby people, vehicles, equipment and stakes.

For used equipment buyers, kits like this change the maths on late-model rollers. A used Cat CW16 or CW34 in sound mechanical condition can gain supervised autonomy for under $50,000, a fraction of the cost of a new autonomous machine. The checks that matter before buying for retrofit are the machine's compatibility with the kit list, the condition of the steering and hydraulic actuation the kit must drive, and the availability of wear parts - tires, filters and hydraulic components - that keep the roller compounding reliably through a paving season.

Source: Equipment World, November 2026.