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Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment

Work activity group · O*NET

Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment is one of the 41 Generalized Work Activities at the top of O*NET's work-activity hierarchy — the broadest description of what people do on the job, sitting above the more specific intermediate and detailed work activities. Across the 894 occupations O*NET rates on it, it scores an average importance of 2.44 of 5 — 11th percentile among all activity groups.

Intermediate activities it contains

The intermediate work activities O*NET groups under Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment, ranked by how many occupations perform each. Each links to its own page.

Intermediate activity Occupations AI applied
Operate transportation equipment or vehicles 86 15th pct

How AI is applied to this activity group

Microsoft's "Working with AI" study measured how often an AI assistant performs each work activity in real Bing Copilot conversations. Averaged across the 1 intermediate activities under Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment that the study measured, this group ranks in the 15th percentile for how frequently AI is applied — a description of how AI is used today, not a forecast that the activity will be automated.

The figure is the mean of the child activities' applied-percentiles; open any activity above to see its underlying Microsoft measurements. Every occupation blends many activities, so a high AI-applied rank for one group does not mean a job is being automated.

Occupations that rely on this activity group most

Ranked by O*NET importance rating (1–5) for Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment. Wages are BLS OEWS May 2024 national medians.

Occupation Importance Median pay Employment
Commercial Pilots 4.92 $122,670 51,830
Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs 4.80 $36,670 229,630
Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity 4.73 $57,440 148,980
Helpers--Extraction Workers 4.70 $48,400 6,720
Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers 4.67 $92,560 123,680
Logging Equipment Operators 4.67 $49,210 22,520
Airfield Operations Specialists 4.67 $56,750 16,640
Fish and Game Wardens 4.67 $68,180 6,420
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 4.65 $226,600 99,300
Subway and Streetcar Operators 4.63 $84,830 9,200
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers 4.62 $57,440 2,070,480
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining 4.62 $52,550 34,210
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators 4.61 $58,710 469,270
Pile Driver Operators 4.61 $70,510 3,040
Manufactured Building and Mobile Home Installers 4.61 $41,080 2,610
Driver/Sales Workers 4.58 $37,130 417,420
Motorboat Operators 4.58 $51,880 2,380
Tree Trimmers and Pruners 4.56 $50,430 47,870
Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels 4.55 $85,540 35,390
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators 4.53 $46,390 805,770
Roustabouts, Oil and Gas 4.53 $47,510 45,330
Motorcycle Mechanics 4.51 $47,200 14,010
Firefighters 4.49 $59,530 332,240
Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing 4.49 $45,690 34,750
Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics 4.47 $49,670 688,840
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers 4.46 $76,290 666,990
Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines 4.46 $63,980 180,270
Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators 4.46 $67,370 16,480
Forest and Conservation Workers 4.46 $43,680 5,630
First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers 4.45 $92,430 93,680
Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers 4.45 $58,030 3,300
Agricultural Equipment Operators 4.44 $42,580 30,940
Locomotive Engineers 4.42 $77,400 31,990
Roof Bolters, Mining 4.42 $76,640 2,230
Light Truck Drivers 4.41 $44,140 994,410
Forest and Conservation Technicians 4.40 $54,310 31,080
Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining 4.40 $68,860 6,130
Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners 4.38 $49,140 29,050
Animal Control Workers 4.38 $45,830 11,790
Parking Enforcement Workers 4.37 $47,150 7,770
Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists 4.36 $52,380 2,780
Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors 4.33 $48,350 139,180
First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers 4.32 $56,170 124,130
Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation 4.31 $45,200 25,200
Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers 4.30 $60,020 12,600
Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians 4.30 $34,330 12,080
Wind Turbine Service Technicians 4.28 $62,580 11,220
Baggage Porters and Bellhops 4.27 $36,020 31,220
Crane and Tower Operators 4.25 $66,370 42,000
Segmental Pavers 4.25 — —
Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators 4.24 $71,510 5,110
Geothermal Technicians 4.23 $48,640 183,690
Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists 4.22 $60,640 287,230
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.22 $78,680 136,390
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand 4.22 $41,690 11,850
Bus Drivers, School 4.21 $47,040 387,920
Postal Service Mail Carriers 4.21 $57,490 336,040
Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers 4.21 $64,190 11,400
Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers 4.20 $70,500 98,360
Pest Control Workers 4.20 $44,730 96,110

Showing 60 of 894 occupations.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/operating-vehicles-mechanized-devices-or-equipment

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/operating-vehicles-mechanized-devices-or-equipment

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-operating-vehicles-mechanized-devices-or-equipment,
  title  = {Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/operating-vehicles-mechanized-devices-or-equipment}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.