AUTONOMOUS HAULAGE
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Caterpillar ready to meet challenge of new entrants
IM also asked Denise Johnson about the fact that Chinese OEM agnostic third party autonomous haulage solutions are becoming much more visible today, with some operators outside of China trialing them or planning to trial them. Does Caterpillar see this as a challenge or opportunity or both? She stated:“ It’ s both. It is definitely a challenge, and one we take seriously. It’ s pushing us to move faster than ever on our own on our nextgeneration AHS. Overall, we recognise that the AHS space is changing, and we are well-positioned with unique capabilities and experience. We are very focused on staying ahead in this space. We’ re speeding up our serial update capabilities. We need to provide changes
that today, and we are doing it at a major operation in Brazil, but it is a heavier lift now than it will be in the future.”
EACON and the next frontier for autonomous mining
EACON Mining Technology is the market leader in AHS in China and is advancing autonomous haulage through both brownfield retrofit deployments and collaboration with OEM partners on purposebuilt autonomous mining vehicles, with recent milestones spanning Australian night operations, rigid truck autonomy and cabless haul trucks.
It says autonomous haulage adoption is entering a new phase, with mining companies seeking solutions that can integrate into existing operations while unlocking new equipment possibilities. To support this, EACON is expanding autonomous haulage deployments across Australia and China, applying its ORCASTRA ® platform to a growing range of truck models and mining environments.
In Western Australia, EACON’ s autonomous haulage project at the Havana Pit, delivered in partnership with Thiess and Norton Gold Fields, recently completed its first autonomous night shift following the commencement of autonomous day-shift operations in a live production environment. With six retrofitted HD1500 trucks now operating autonomously across both day and night, the project has taken another step towards continuous production. The transition from daytime operations to around-the-clock autonomy EACON says is more than an extension of operating hours; it demonstrates how autonomous haulage is evolving from staged trials into an integrated part of everyday mining operations. to AHS software faster and provide customers with the value faster. We do a lot of virtual validation work continuously, rather than pushing an annual software update. We are also working to streamline our traditional approach to development, testing, prototyping, piloting, and finally producing units.”
She added:“ I also think there is a very high bar for AHS safety in regions like Australia, Canada and Chile. As Caterpillar, there’ s an expectation that our software and our equipment will be safe, proven and validated from day one. We built that expectation over a century of quality deliveries. For us, autonomy isn’ t only about moving material more efficiently. It’ s about removing people from high-risk tasks and environments while enabling them to focus on the work that creates greater value.”
In China, EACON is continuing to validate its retrofit autonomy solution on XCMG XDE130 rigid dump trucks, each with a 120 t payload. At the Hongshaquan 1 coal mine in northwest China, EACON completed the first adaptation of its retrofit autonomy solution to the XCMG XDE130 platform. The vehicle was retrofitted in just ten days before successfully completing full autonomous haul cycles. It also underwent mixed-fleet testing alongside manually operated equipment, demonstrating EACON’ s ability to integrate its autonomy system into existing production environments.
A second XDE130 truck deployed at the Zhundong coal mine has also completed autonomous haul cycles, with further validation continuing under active mining conditions. The next stage will include additional mixed-fleet operations.
Scaling autonomous haulage beyond isolated deployments often requires autonomous trucks to safely interact with manually operated vehicles in the same production environment. Across iron ore and coal mining operations, EACON’ s autonomous haulage system has demonstrated operation in mixed traffic environments, with autonomous trucks working alongside crewed vehicles while adapting to changing road conditions and surrounding obstacles.
These capabilities are enabled by EACON’ s onboard perception, real-time decision-making and autonomous driving algorithms. Combining data from LiDAR, cameras and positioning systems, the system builds a real-time understanding of the surrounding environment, allowing trucks to identify potential hazards, predict interactions and adjust their behaviour accordingly.
Rather than relying on every vehicle in the mine to be automated, EACON’ s approach enables autonomous trucks to operate safely within existing fleets, helping mining companies transition towards autonomy while maintaining operational flexibility.
Alongside retrofit solutions, EACON is working with OEM partners to integrate its OEM-agnostic autonomous haulage solution into purpose-built mining vehicles designed for autonomous operations. Following extensive testing and validation, the AT150, an all-electric, bidirectional rigid mining truck equipped with EACON’ s autonomous haulage solution, has entered operation at an SPIC-owned coal mine in Inner Mongolia.
The vehicle combines a cabless design, bidirectional operation and a battery-electric powertrain. Its architecture eliminates the need for turning manoeuvres in confined areas, improving mobility and operational flexibility. The project highlights the potential of combining autonomous technology with purpose-built vehicle architectures to support safer, smarter and lower-emission mining operations.
Liebherr’ s AHS pathway ongoing
Liebherr continues to advance its autonomous mining capabilities through the ongoing development and deployment of its Autonomous Haulage Solution, part of the company’ s IoMine technology ecosystem. As part of that it continues to partner with key customers – in 2024 Fortescue and Liebherr Mining announced a partnership to jointly develop and validate a fully integrated AHS, and this is ongoing.
Liebherr told IM that all new T 264 mining trucks are now available from factory in an autonomy ready configuration, enabling customers to future-proof their equipment investment with the option to retrofit their fleets and adopt autonomous operations as their site requirements evolve.
“ Mining customers are looking for practical pathways to autonomy that align with their operational objectives and technology deployment roadmaps. By providing an autonomy-ready platform, we can support customers wherever they are on that journey,” says Liebherr.
The company has already delivered well over 100 T 264 Autonomy Ready mining trucks and retrofitted Onboard Autonomy Kits( OAKs) onto these fleets as part of its pathway towards full autonomous deployment. Field validation of Liebherr’ s fully integrated Autonomous Haulage Solutions in a production mining environment continues, building on several years of development and testing.
To support global deployment of autonomous solutions, Liebherr has established a team of more than 100
International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2026