The Autonomous Operation Cluster (AOC) is a cross‑industry initiative that unites leading European off‑highway manufacturers as technology partners to shape the future of autonomous and highly automated mobile machinery. Within this cooperation, Ammann, Palfinger, Prinoth, Rosenbauer and TTControl pool their expertise to jointly develop key building blocks for autonomous off‑highway applications and bring them into series production.
New megatrends such as artificial intelligence, advanced driver assistance and autonomous operation are transforming all industries – and the off‑highway sector is no exception. At the same time, companies face increasing complexity, high development costs and a global shortage of specialized know‑how. The AOC addresses these challenges by creating a structured, long‑term collaboration framework that allows partners to share knowledge, spread investment and accelerate innovation while maintaining their individual competitive strengths.
Network Founders
Ammann is a global manufacturer in asphalt and concrete mixing plants, rollers and road construction equipment. As a founding member of the Autonomous Operation Cluster (AOC) alongside Palfinger, Prinoth, Rosenbauer and TTControl, Ammann helps drive a joint roadmap toward safer, more automated and ultimately autonomous off-highway machines.
Joint development includes operating assistance functions on heavy compactors, such as the fully integrated 360° View Camera and Ammann Safety Assist (ASA). These systems improve all-round visibility, support collision avoidance and can automatically brake to prevent accidents, especially on crowded or low-visibility sites. Through the AOC2025 collaboration, Ammann contributes real machine platforms and field use cases while benefiting from a shared software platform and reusable autonomous building blocks.
Link: https://www.ammann.com/
Palfinger is a global technology and engineering leader in innovative lifting solutions, ranging from loader and timber cranes to hooklifts, access platforms, forklifts, railway systems as well as marine applications. With its ACES program (Autonomous, Connected, Eco Efficient Solutions), Palfinger actively drives the development of smart, digital and autonomous crane systems.
As a founding member of the Autonomous Operation Cluster (AOC) together with Ammann, Prinoth, Rosenbauer and TTControl, Palfinger co-develops key technologies for assisted and autonomous operation of cranes and other off-highway machines. Within AOC, Palfinger contributes concrete use cases such as semiautonomous offshore and timber cranes, as well as its expertise in human machine interaction. In return, it benefits from shared computer vision, AI and safety building blocks that accelerate time to market for next generation smart lifting solutions.
Prinoth, headquartered in Sterzing/Vipiteno, Italy, is a global leader in off-road technology with a strong focus on snow groomers, crawler carriers and vegetation management equipment. TTControl has been Prinoth’s electronics partner for almost 25 years, providing scalable control platforms, rugged displays and application software that power the entire snow groomer range and even enabled a fully self-driving groomer prototype.
Within the Autonomous Operation Cluster (AOC), Prinoth brings its demanding alpine use cases and long-standing autonomy experience into a cross-industry partnership with Ammann, Palfinger, Rosenbauer and TTControl. Together, they develop robust hardware platforms, modular software components and concrete autonomous functions, aiming to further increase assistance and automation levels in snow grooming and other specialized off-highway applications.
Link: https://www.prinoth.com/
Rosenbauer is a global leader in firefighting technology, known for its innovative fire trucks, rescue vehicles and digital solutions for emergency services. With a strong focus on safety, electrification and connected systems, Rosenbauer develops advanced platforms such as the award-winning “Revolutionary Technology (RT)” electric fire truck and the RTE Robot for hazardous environments.
Within the Autonomous Operation Cluster (AOC), Rosenbauer collaborates closely with TTControl and other market-leading partners from Central Europe to bring autonomous and highly automated functions into real firefighting applications. Rosenbauer contributes concrete use cases, vehicle platforms and domain expertise, while leveraging TTControl’s safetycertified ECUs and software, as well as shared AOC infrastructure, ROS2-based middleware and AI perception toolchains.
TTControl, a joint venture of TTTech Group and HYDAC International, is a leading provider of robust electronic control units, displays and software platforms for offhighway and special vehicles. Within the Autonomous Operation Cluster (AOC), TTControl acts as technology and coordination backbone for Ammann, Palfinger, Prinoth and Rosenbauer.
Its role is to provide the scalable hardware platform, realtime and safety software stack, and common toolchain on which autonomous and highly automated functions are developed and reused across OEMs. TTControl coordinates the joint roadmap, aligns safety and certification strategies, and operates the shared development and test infrastructure. By doing so, TTControl enables partners to accelerate innovation, share costs and quickly industrialize autonomous functions for demanding offhighway applications.
Join the Network
Goals and Membership Options
The Autonomous Operation Cluster (AOC) unites off-highway industry leaders and TTControl to define and implement a shared technological roadmap for advanced automation and autonomy. Its goals are to build common infrastructure and ways of working, jointly develop robust hardware platforms and modular software components, and create concrete application functions that demonstrate tangible autonomous capabilities. By sharing knowledge and R&D investments, partners accelerate the deployment of AI and computer vision-based assistance and autonomous functions that increase safety, productivity and operator comfort across diverse mobile machines.
Within this framework, network members steer development topics, co-develop specific use cases and apply these solutions in their machines, while tech partners provide enabling sensors, algorithms and research expertise to the cluster.
Membership Benefits:
Members of the Autonomous Operation Cluster (AOC) gain accelerated access to leading technologies for advanced automation and autonomy in off-highway applications. By sharing development and innovation investments, they significantly reduce individual R&D cost and risk while scaling new functions faster. Jointly developed software modules are available for use in members’ series products without additional royalties, enabling faster time-to-market and lasting competitive advantages. Members benefit from intensive know-how transfer, cross-market fertilization of ideas, joint sensor discovery and evaluation, and the potential for combined HW acquisitions.
If you want to shape next-generation autonomous machines together, explore how to join the AOC:
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Together, the AOC partners define and implement a common technological roadmap focused on three development areas: robust hardware platforms, a modular and scalable software stack, and concrete application functions tailored to real machines and use cases. This includes high‑performance compute platforms, reliable embedded base software, a modern software framework (e.g. leveraging ROS 2 and proven toolchains), and perception and control functions that make autonomous operation safe, efficient and intuitive for the operator.
The AOC is designed as a practical, result‑driven cooperation. In an initial foundation phase, the partners have established a shared infrastructure, a common way of working and joint governance. Based on this, they develop proof‑of‑concept systems and demonstrators that can be “touched and seen” in real‑world environments. These demonstrators validate the technical approach and provide a concrete basis for scaling towards series products in construction, load handling, fire‑fighting, agriculture, alpine technology and other specialized off‑highway domains.
By working across segments, the Autonomous Operation Cluster enables cross‑fertilization of ideas: lessons learned in one market can be transferred to others, and jointly developed technologies can be adapted efficiently to different machine types. At the same time, each partner remains in control of how the results are implemented and marketed within their own product portfolio. The cluster itself does not act as a standalone product brand; instead, it serves as an innovation engine that strengthens the market position of all participating companies.
Ultimately, the vision of the Autonomous Operation Cluster is to “join strengths to develop essential building blocks for autonomous off‑highway applications, maximizing customer value and creating a sustainable competitive advantage for all partners involved.” With a clear roadmap, committed partners and a growing developer community, the AOC lays the foundation for the next generation of automation and autonomy in the mobile machinery and off‑highway industries.
