First in Europe: Heijmans introduces self-driving asphalt roller

Construction company Heijmans today announces the arrival of Europe’s very first self-driving electric asphalt roller. With this prototype, Heijmans is taking an important first step in the automation of road construction, which is necessary due to emerging staff shortages. The innovation makes work smarter and safer. It also fits with Heijmans’ ambition to operate with zero emissions.

Addressing big challenges

The availability and quality of the Netherlands’ infrastructure is under pressure. An ageing population is resulting in shortages of skilled workers. This creates challenges, while the societal demands for Dutch infrastructure and sustainability continue to grow. Heijmans believes that a smarter approach is key. By focusing on digitisation and automation, we can increase the impact per employee and ensure safer, more consistent work processes.

How the roller works

The electric roller operates autonomously based on pre-programmed instructions, monitors the asphalt temperature and the paving process. An operator prepares the work digitally and controls the machine remotely. With fewer people physically present on the asphalt, the risk of collisions becomes significantly lower. It also ensures a consistently high quality of the work.

“Our introduction of this self-driving asphalt roller shows how technology helps us do smarter and safer construction work. We reduce the risks for our road workers, maintain high quality, and apply it with zero emissions. In addition, we can continue to meet the future demand for road maintenance in the Netherlands”, says Bart Smolders, Managing Director Infra at Heijmans.

This innovation fits in seamlessly with Heijmans’ 2030 strategy (new window). The self-driving roller fits in with the Feasibility (new window) strategic pillar and also contributes to the Sustainability (new window) pillar. Furthermore, it reduces the risk of accidents, improving site safety (new window). The roller is equipped with automatic emergency braking assistance.

Schiphol demo

The prototype has successfully made it through testing and is now ready for a demo at Schiphol on 27 October. The next step is to move on to an initial industrialised version. We expect to have the first roller in use by our road construction team the first half of 2026. We are also looking into options for expansion to other road construction machines, such as spreaders. Eventually, two operators should be able to control multiple machines at once. We are proceeding with caution and in small steps. In the long term, we hope to halve the number of people working on a road construction team.

By enabling smarter, more efficient completion of road construction projects, this breakthrough is helping to make the Netherlands more future-proof.

The project is a collaboration between Heijmans and innovative robotics company Avular.