Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment
Wash or otherwise clean vehicles, machinery, and other equipment. Use such materials as water, cleaning agents, brushes, cloths, and hoses.
380,430 people do this job in the US. $35,830 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 3%
- 0%
- 97%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 3%. Today's estimate: 3%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 20 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apply paints, dyes, polishes, reconditioners, waxes, or masking materials to vehicles to preserve, protect, or restore color or condition.Done daily by most who do it. | 22% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Scrub, scrape, or spray machine parts, equipment, or vehicles, using scrapers, brushes, clothes, cleaners, disinfectants, insecticides, acid, abrasives, vacuums, or hoses.Done daily by most who do it. | 15% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean and polish vehicle windows.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Pre-soak or rinse machine parts, equipment, or vehicles by immersing objects in cleaning solutions or water, manually or using hoists.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Clean the plastic work inside cars, using paintbrushes.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Inspect parts, equipment, or vehicles for cleanliness, damage, and compliance with standards or regulations.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Drive vehicles to or from workshops or customers' workplaces or homes.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Rinse objects and place them on drying racks or use cloth, squeegees, or air compressors to dry surfaces.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Sweep, shovel, or vacuum loose debris or salvageable scrap into containers and remove containers from work areas.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Fit boot spoilers, side skirts, or mud flaps to cars.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain inventories of supplies.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Monitor operation of cleaning machines and stop machines or notify supervisors when malfunctions occur.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 17 min4 min to 50 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers2% now, 2% by 2028
- Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders5% now, 5% by 2028
- Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners5% now, 5% by 2028
- Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners6% now, 6% by 2028
- Maintenance Workers, Machinery7% now, 7% by 2028
- Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders1% now, 1% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).