DroneDeploy Redefines Progress Tracking in Construction with Launch of Progress AI

New AI agent automates progress tracking from drone and 360 camera data, delivering results in minutes, not days, at fraction of cost of existing solutions.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, July 22, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- DroneDeploy, the leading reality capture and robotics platform, today announced the launch of Progress AI – a groundbreaking agentic AI solution that delivers automated progress tracking from both aerial and ground capture data, at unmatched speed and cost.

● Progress data in minutes, not days: Within minutes of uploading 360 panos or processed aerial maps reaching completion, progress data including percent complete by trade and location is available.

● Accessible via voice or chat: The industry’s first voice agent you can talk to has a perfect photographic memory of captured site conditions today, last month, or two years ago.

● Delivered at fraction of cost of legacy progress tracking tools: Priced to scale and guarantee ROI on projects of every size, from tenant fit-outs to billion-dollar data centers.

● Built on vision-language AI: Trained on billions of square feet and millions of acres of real-world data, Progress AI visually understands what’s happening on site – not just what’s written.

Currently, tracking construction progress usually means highlighting paper plans by hand or chasing down updates – with only a few high-profile projects using expensive, complex software tools. Most teams still rely on manual updates, walkthroughs and incomplete field reports to assess where work stands.

On larger, more complex jobs, superintendents spend hours each week coloring drawings, updating daily logs and chasing missing updates – all while trade stacking, sequencing conflicts and schedule risk quietly build. Progress AI eliminates that friction by turning simple site capture into automated, 95% accurate progress reports – freeing field teams to stay focused on execution instead of documentation.

Leveraging advanced vision-language models (VLMs) – a step beyond traditional large language models (LLMs) – Progress AI interprets real-world visual data from drone flights and 360 walkthroughs, and generates structured insights automatically. This next-generation AI doesn’t just read text; it understands what it sees, enabling jobsite analysis with far greater accuracy, contextual awareness and speed.

"With Progress AI, all project stakeholders can get a complete view of progress across every floor, every trade, in minutes, not hours," said James Stripe, Chief Product Officer at DroneDeploy. "Beta customers have already used Progress AI to track project milestones, validate pay apps and reduce trade conflicts without adding headcount or complexity. We expect these capabilities to scale rapidly as the solution rolls out across more project sites."

In addition to automatically generating structured progress reports, Progress AI allows teams to ask natural-language questions about site conditions using voice or text. From superintendents verifying trade progress to project executives validating schedule risk, answers are delivered instantly – without waiting for status meetings or chasing reports.

“The superintendent can simply ask, ‘How much did our drywall partner get done this week?’ and Progress AI will surface the facts directly from last night’s site capture,” added Stripe.

What makes Progress AI different?

● Speed: Progress reports can be delivered within minutes after capture – versus days with other providers.

● Cost: Priced at a fraction of incumbent progress-tracking solutions, Progress AI scales affordably across entire portfolios, not just flagship projects.

● Simplicity: BIM and schedule are not required, reducing setup dependencies and minimizing specialized behavior changes. Walk or fly your site as usual, the AI does the rest.

● Intelligence: Powered by vision-language models that visually interpret field conditions, Progress AI understands installed work, location, sequence and site changes with field-level context.

From progress validation and pay app reviews to trade scheduling and risk detection, Progress AI delivers objective, unbiased assessments of work-in-place. It replaces fragmented opinions with verifiable facts – direct from the jobsite.

Progress AI is powered by DroneDeploy's proprietary visual intelligence dataset – billions of square feet of ground-level data and billions of acres of aerial imagery, delivering high-resolution, survey-accurate visuals used across construction, energy, infrastructure and agriculture.

The AI model is trained to detect started and substantially completed work, track changes and quantify progress with human-level accuracy, continuously improving as more data is captured.

Progress AI equips superintendents, project managers and executives, VDC managers, operations leaders, owners, developers, and capital project teams alike with timely, accurate and unbiased jobsite intelligence. Whether it’s a single hospital build, a hyperscale data center or solar farm, Progress AI delivers the same benefits – speed, scale and simplicity – turning scattered site data into actionable insights across entire portfolios.

“Progress AI is like having an extra superintendent – capturing everything, seeing everything, analyzing everything, so nothing gets missed,” said Cayman Wilson, Project Engineer at Wharton-Smith Construction Group. “I just walk the site like usual and Progress AI gives me a clear, visual heatmap of what’s happening and what’s changed.”

“We caught a framing issue with a door install just by reviewing the Progress AI walkthrough. That saved us hours – maybe days – of rework.”

Colton McVety, Digital Documentation Specialist at Wharton-Smith, said: “I support over 90 projects, and DroneDeploy’s Progress AI lets me check in on progress without setting foot on-site. It’s a game-changer.”

Tripp Lytle, Assistant Project Manager at Wharton-Smith, said: “Progress AI helps us coordinate trades better. You can see where crews are falling behind and instantly adjust the plan.”

“If I’m not on-site, I can still check room-by-room progress from my laptop. It’s fast, easy, and accurate.”

Progress AI is available for early access now through October, when it will be formally available as an add-on for all DroneDeploy Aerial and Ground customers. To learn more or join the waitlist, visit: www.dronedeploy.com/product/progress-ai.

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About DroneDeploy:

DroneDeploy powers field teams with robotics and AI. As the only reality capture platform that combines robotic automation, AI agents and a truly unified system, DroneDeploy allows critical industries to operate with speed and confidence.

From construction and energy to agriculture, the world’s largest companies use DroneDeploy to simplify field operations, improve safety and make smarter decisions, faster. By combining aerial drones, 360 and fixed cameras, ground robots and proprietary AI, we’re bringing the power of automation and visual intelligence to all stakeholders, from the field to the boardroom.

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