Transportation Vehicle, Equipment and Systems Inspectors
(Except Aviation)

High Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

Aviation Inspectors
21% automation risk | Low Risk
42.5 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Inspection methods, safety compliance, equipment records, and defect documentation transfer with aviation-specific credentials.

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists
19% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Higher growth More jobs
44.5 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Builds on safety inspections, compliance standards, investigations, reporting, and risk-control recommendations.

Occupational Health and Safety Technicians
21% automation risk | Low Risk
Higher growth More jobs
42.6 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Uses field inspections, safety standards, incident records, hazard recognition, and corrective-action tracking.

Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists
42% automation risk | Moderate Risk
More jobs
21.5 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Vehicle defect knowledge, inspection routines, brakes, safety systems, and maintenance records support repair training.

Traffic Technicians
45% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Higher growth
18.6 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Transportation systems knowledge, field observation, records, safety procedures, and equipment checks transfer.


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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
4.1/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

64% (High Risk)

High Risk (61-80%): This occupation shows a significant risk of end-to-end replacement by automation. Many core parts of the role may be structured, repeatable, software-driven, or physically predictable enough for AI, machines, or robotic systems to take over. If you work in this area, it may be worth exploring safer related careers or moving towards more human-centred responsibilities.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 14 votes

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Transportation Vehicle, Equipment and Systems Inspectors, Except Aviation will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Pay & outlook

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Transportation Inspectors was $85,750 ($41 per hour).

The median annual wage for Transportation Inspectors was 73.2% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Transportation Inspectors' job openings is expected to rise 1.7% by 2034

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 23,320 people employed as 'Transportation Inspectors' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 6 thousand people are employed as 'Transportation Inspectors'.

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What people are saying (1)

Dmitry (Low)
15 Mar 2025 15:47
Some defects during vehicle inspection and diagnostics can only be discovered through the human senses (creaking of suspension elements, for example) that cannot be discovered by a machine. I doubt the engineers will bother putting up a high sensitivity microphone onto a robot/ai mechanic for those sounds. Sure, diagnostic lines exist for vehicles and they MOSTLY can replace a human. But right now, they give only summarized info, which might not be enough and it can cause an accident. So a human inspector is a must, at least for now

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Job description

Inspect and monitor transportation equipment, vehicles, or systems to ensure compliance with regulations and safety standards.

O*NET-SOC code: 53-6051.07