The current state of exploration drilling technology and the emerging trends in its development indicate that in the coming years, existing mechanical methods of rock breaking will predominate, with rotary drilling foremost among them. The highest priority tasks are the mechanization of all labor-intensive operations and the transition to automation of drilling processes. It is necessary to accelerate the mechanization of shallow well drilling, because up to 1 million meters of shallow wells are drilled by hand every year. The situation is particularly unsatisfactory in engineering geological surveys. These operations require highly portable rigs, since wells are often drilled along railway track beds with heavy train traffic. Vibratory drilling and auger drilling should become more widespread in the near future.