Inside a cool, dimly lighted trailer where the quiet is broken mostly by the crackle of radio traffic, Abrin Vasquez drives a 40-ton bulldozer hundreds of yards away.
Vasquez is remotely piloting a Caterpillar dozer spreading trash across the Marana Regional Landfill near Tucson, Ariz. He used to be out in the heat running the machine from the cab, a potentially dangerous job in the landfill’s rough, trash-filled terrain. Now, he is safely away from that in the control trailer, doing the same job from a virtual cab.
“It was challenging at first, but it’s just a matter of getting used to it,” said Vasquez, 25. He spent two years operating the dozer in the landfill, where treading uneven ground can be physically punishing work. “I don’t feel the bumps now,” he said.
