The claim here is a labor shortage and not the cost of human labor.
I see. I only have opinions on that, and being from southern California where "the Mexicans are taking all our jobs" and "the millennials are so lazy and dont want to do anything to help themselves!"
Being that I work in heavy labor construction side by side with both, I could go on and on on this topic. It does happen to be a close partner to that.
Anyways, imo, with heavy equipment, having people of varying mental capacity is always a dangerous situation. Even with easy to see out of and control under 10 ton machines, it's scary how dangerously people throw themselves into harms way without thinking.
So, again imo, if an owner can automate a 50 ton machine, and all the machines around it for even $100k each, it's worth it in order to not kill anyone.
The flip side being, people lose jobs. Regardless how you look at it, both arguements make perfect sense, owner or worker. The owner is the one with the check book and the nightmares of 100s of employees to keep safe.
I dont think anything will be automated in city type areas any time soon. I do think having RC tech available in these areas would make heavy machinery safer as you can make machines smaller, and the operator can see around the machine.
Anyways, my 2 cents.
Cheers.