The early 2000s saw Caterpillar venturing into deeper R&D efforts in India with the acquisition of Hindustan Motors. Today, it has the company’s second largest concentration of engineers in the world. With more than 3,200 engineers working in Caterpillar R&D center, it provides technology solutions that enable telematics, engineering analytics, site technologies and autonomous machines. In the last 10 years (2013-23), the engineers from the R&D Center in India have contributed to over 450 patent applications and around 120 patents have been granted.
The longstanding collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, aims to build a talent pool of engineers through consulting, sponsored programs, joint research, and engineering cell development to solve tough problems in mechanical engineering, material behaviours and virtual product development.