AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants?

Task-level automation exposure for Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants: 14 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

26% weighted task index

14 of 14 tasks scored

Median Salary

$35,670 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

High

102,010 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+3.8% employment change

12,900 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 52 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$22,250 – $43,630

Highest medians

Hawaii $43,630

California $41,770

District of Columbia $41,750

Rhode Island $41,690

Connecticut $41,600

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $22,250

West Virginia $28,260

Louisiana $29,150

Alabama $29,180

Virginia $30,350

State figures come from the 53-6031 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 26%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 68%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 0%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 11%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 54/100 High

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

14 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 19%

3 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 4%

1 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 78%

10 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Constituent Tasks

#10712 · Core · 20% automatable

Collect cash payments from customers, and make change or charge purchases to customers' credit cards, providing customers with receipts.

physical manipulation — Collecting fares physically from customers

Collect fares or payment from customers.

#20936 · Core · 15% automatable

Check tire pressure and levels of fuel, motor oil, transmission, radiator, battery, or other fluids, adding air or fluids as required.

physical manipulation — Hands-on depth/level measurement in field

Measure the level or depth of water or other liquids. Maintain vehicles in good working condition.

#10719 · Core · 8% automatable

Perform minor repairs, such as adjusting brakes, replacing spark plugs, or changing engine oil or filters.

physical manipulation — Physical vehicle maintenance work

Maintain vehicles in good working condition.

#10715 · Core · 8% automatable

Clean parking areas, offices, restrooms, or equipment, and remove trash.

physical manipulation — Machinery cleaning requires hands-on work

Clean facilities or work areas. Clean machinery or equipment.

#10720 · Core · 68% automatable

Order stock, and price and shelve incoming goods.

decision support — Acquisition workflow aided; human commits resources

Acquire supplies or equipment.

#10725 · Core · 19% automatable

Sell and install accessories, such as batteries, windshield wiper blades, fan belts, bulbs, or headlamps.

interpersonal — Closing sales requires persuasion and accountability

Install parts, assemblies, or attachments in transportation or material handling equipment. Sell products or services.

#10724 · Core · 8% automatable

Grease and lubricate vehicles or specified units, such as springs, universal joints, or steering knuckles, using grease guns or spray lubricants.

physical manipulation — Hands-on marine engine maintenance

Maintain watercraft engines or machinery.

#10721 · Core · 8% automatable

Rotate, test, and repair or replace tires.

physical manipulation — Physical vehicle maintenance work

Maintain vehicles in good working condition.

#10714 · Supplemental · 88% automatable

Prepare daily reports of fuel, oil, and accessory sales.

data analysis — Structured transaction data entry and recording

Record sales or transactions data.

#20937 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Clean windshields.

physical manipulation — Hands-on washing of vehicle surfaces and parts

Clean vehicles or vehicle components.

#10713 · Supplemental · 15% automatable

Activate fuel pumps and fill fuel tanks of vehicles with gasoline or diesel fuel to specified levels.

physical manipulation — Physical control of pumping equipment

Control pumps or pumping equipment.

#10726 · Supplemental · 14% automatable

Test and charge batteries.

visual inspection — Vehicle inspection is physical on-site work

Inspect motor vehicles. Maintain vehicles in good working condition.

#10723 · Supplemental · 88% automatable

Maintain customer records and follow up periodically with telephone, mail, or personal reminders of services due.

data analysis — Structured transaction data entry and recording

Record sales or transactions data.

#10718 · Supplemental · 55% automatable

Provide customers with information about local roads or highways.

information retrieval — Transport info lookup automatable; live assistance human

Provide transportation information to passengers or customers.

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Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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