Clean vehicles or vehicle components
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 13 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Performing General Physical Activities (4.A.3.a.1) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 13 occupations that perform it.
- Clean school bus interiors by picking up waste, wiping down windows, or vacuuming.
- Clean trucks used in the fields.
- Inspect and clean cabins, checking for any problems and making sure that cabins are in order.
- Clean and wash rigs, ambulances, or equipment.
- Keep bus interiors clean for students.
- Maintain cleanliness of bus or motor coach.
- Vacuum and clean interiors, and wash and polish exteriors of automobiles.
- Perform minor vehicle repairs, such as cleaning spark plugs, or take vehicles to mechanics for servicing.
- Clean windshields.
- Clean aircraft interiors by picking up waste, wiping down windows, or vacuuming.
- Perform routine maintenance on vehicles or auxiliary equipment, such as cleaning, lubricating, recharging batteries, fueling, or replacing liquefied-gas tank.
- Scrub, scrape, or spray machine parts, equipment, or vehicles, using scrapers, brushes, clothes, cleaners, disinfectants, insecticides, acid, abrasives, vacuums, or hoses.
- Clean trucks or compactor bodies after routes have been completed.
- Remove and replace soiled linens or equipment to maintain sanitary conditions.
- De-grease aircraft exteriors.
- Clean and polish vehicle windows.
- Remove exhaust stains from aircraft using cleaning fluids.
- Rinse objects and place them on drying racks or use cloth, squeegees, or air compressors to dry surfaces.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
13 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Aircraft Service Attendants
- Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians
- Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
- Bus Drivers, School
- Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity
- Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment
- Flight Attendants
- Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
- Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
- Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
- School Bus Monitors
- Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs
- Taxi Drivers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.