Mach9 Adds Aerial LiDAR Processing to CAD Software

The web-based AI tool now extracts engineering features from drone, helicopter, and aircraft survey data.

Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence

Isometric editorial illustration of a surveying drone on a tripod beside a gridded terrain model in oxblood, teal, mustard, and cream, depicting survey data turned into engineering form. — Mach9 added aerial LiDAR and photogrammetry processing to its web-based AI CAD software, with engineering firm Langan reporting about a 40% cut in Texas delivery time. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Mach9 has extended its web-based AI CAD software to process aerial LiDAR and photogrammetry datasets collected by drones, helicopters, and aircraft. Engineering firm Langan reported roughly a 40% reduction in delivery time on Texas projects using the software.

Why it matters

Collecting survey data has become faster than turning it into usable engineering drawings, a bottleneck the software is designed to address. Automating feature extraction and surface creation could shorten project timelines for infrastructure work across the United States.

Mach9 says its extraction covers kerbs, building footprints, pavement edges, and vegetation outlines, and extracts utility poles and 3D catenary geometry from suspended wires at centimetre-level accuracy at infrastructure scale. The company's accuracy claim and the time savings reported by users have not been independently verified in the available information.

The players

Mach9

Mach9 is the company that develops the web-based AI CAD software, which now processes aerial survey datasets.

Langan

Langan is an engineering firm that reported a roughly 40% reduction in delivery time using Mach9 on projects in Texas.

Welch Comer

Welch Comer is an engineering firm that reported average savings of four to five hours per project using the software.

The details

Users upload point clouds and orthomosaic imagery into the application, then work through extraction, editing, and surface creation in one place. Editors can adjust vertices and regenerate surfaces, with a deviation heatmap highlighting areas needing attention, and finished surfaces can be exported as LandXML.

Mach9's aerial LiDAR and photogrammetry support was announced on November 4, 2026.

The Tech Race

The export of finished surfaces as LandXML, a established civil-engineering exchange format, lets Mach9's output feed existing design and surveying workflows. The move positions AI feature extraction as an add-on to standard civil CAD pipelines rather than a replacement for them.

For engineers and surveyors, the software could reduce the hours spent converting drone and aircraft survey data into usable design surfaces. Users working on infrastructure projects may see faster turnaround if the reported time savings hold across other jobs.

The takeaway

Faster conversion of survey data into engineering surfaces can shorten infrastructure timelines, but the reported savings come from a limited set of user accounts. Engineers evaluating the tool should test it against their own project data before relying on the figures.