AI in the construction industry- hype, vision an real added value!

Artificial intelligence is starting to arrive on construction sites. Slowly but surely, it's moving from innovation labs and pilot projects into the real world – and it’s going to stay.

At Sodex Innovations, we’re not just watching this change happen – we’re helping shape it. But instead of starting with promises, we’re starting with something practical:

We just launched our first AI-powered feature in SDX-Cloud – designed to help with volume surveying, by making it easier and faster to mark excavations and piles directly in the browser. Whether it’s sand, asphalt, dirt, or rock – users can now detect and outline material piles in seconds. That means faster volume calculations and fewer clicks for your reality-capture workflows.

No extra devices. No long setup. Just time saved, where it matters most.

We didn’t come from construction – so we spent years listening

When Bernhard, Raphael, and I first got into this space in 2018, we had no background in construction. We weren’t surveyors or machine operators – we were engineers and entrepreneurs who saw potential in automating jobsite data capture.

So instead of pretending to know it all, we listened.
We spent years on construction sites, talking to foremen, operators, project managers, and surveyors. We watched how things were done. We learned where mobile mapping could help – and where it would only get in the way.

And in 2023, we finally launched our core product: a plug-and-play reality capture system that mounts to construction equipment and captures real-time data of the terrain using GNSS, laserscanning, and camera-based surveying – all while the machines are working.

Today, it’s being used on earthworks projects across Europe and the U.S.

But that mindset of learning from the field – not forcing tech onto it – is still how we work.

AI that helps with what’s done 100 times – not just once

We could have built a tool that runs a full site analysis with every detail you can imagine. In fact, we’re working on that in the background. We know that AI will soon become essential for forecasting, documentation, billing, logistics, and safety. And we’ll be ready.

But the truth is: most companies aren’t there yet.

Many teams are just starting to digitize their daily workflows. And the last thing they need is another complicated dashboard that only one person in the office knows how to use.

That’s why we focused our first AI feature on something everyone can use, on any project, right away:
marking piles and excavations – and saving time with every volume calculation.

Because 100 x 10 minutes saved beats 1 x 100 minutes saved.
It’s the everyday tasks that move the industry forward.

Making AI useful – not visible

Our goal isn’t to show off that we use artificial intelligence. Our goal is to make it invisible – by making it so intuitive and seamless that you don’t have to think about it. You just get the result.

The construction industry is extremely diverse. Some large companies already use AI to optimize fuel usage or detect trends across entire fleets. Others are still filling out delivery slips with pen and paper – and that’s not a criticism, that’s just the reality.

We want to bridge that gap – not widen it.

That means building tools that aren’t just for early adopters or tech-savvy engineers, but for everyone who works in construction. Especially those who love being on site, building things, and who just want technology to support, not distract.

The less they need to worry about the system – the better. That’s what we aim for.

This is just the beginning

We're already working on more advanced tools in the background – tools that will bring full-site reality capture, automated earthworks tracking, and advanced data analytics to life with even less effort from users.

But we won’t rush it.

We’ll keep listening.
We’ll keep testing with real users.
And we’ll keep building tools that help – not just impress.

Want to see it?

We’ve put together a short demo video that shows exactly how the new AI feature works inside SDX-Cloud. It’s a fast, no-nonsense look at how surveying teams and construction managers can now save time on every pile and excavation.

Watch our demo video here: https://www.loom.com/share/9d9179e95b6f4a339174bb72bdca0690?sid=13b96cff-ee79-468a-a689-1b906be273b0

This feature might not look flashy – but it works. And it’s built for the people who are out there, capturing the real world, moving earth, and shaping what’s next.

We’re proud of that.