AUTONOMOUS HAULAGE
A new age of autonomy
IM also had the chance to speak to Dr Albert Hu, Executive Director and CEO of CiDi, about its growing success in the AHS market and its plans for expansion
Q CiDi is one of several Chinese companies advancing OEM-agnostic autonomy. What differentiates MetaMine?
Dr Albert Hu, Executive Director and CEO of CiDi
MetaMine is differentiated by its ability to function as a complete production system, rather than being constrained to a single truck model or limited to single-vehicle autonomy. Our multi-modal, bird’ s-eye-view perception architecture is purpose-built for mining environments. The system is continuously refined for dust, fog, snow, glare, unstructured roads, and other adverse conditions. It identifies risks such as rockfall and terrain hazards, in addition to obstacles that conventional on-road autonomous systems are not designed to address. MetaMine has also been validated at scale. As of June 30, 2026, more than 1,900 CiDipowered autonomous mining trucks had been deployed across nearly 40 mine sites worldwide. Seven open-pit sites now operate fleets around-the-clock exceeding 100 trucks, and the largest singlesite deployment surpasses 220 vehicles. At this scale, the challenge goes beyond individual autonomy, and customers now measure the stability of the entire production system, such as dispatch efficiency, maintenance, and safety over sustained operations. The system permits a single mining site dispatch personnel to simultaneously monitor over 100 haul trucks, reflecting a high level of autonomy. The platform supports heterogeneous fleets across multiple OEMs, vehicle classes, and chassis architectures. It coordinates autonomous trucks, human-driven vehicles, and auxiliary equipment within a unified operational framework. Multi-agent decision-making enables the system to manage intersections, queuing, and other traffic negotiations between machinery. MetaMine provides autonomy across haulage, dumping, stockpiling, and crusher-feed operations. It supports dynamic traffic manoeuvres for haul roads and navigation on unstructured routes, and our network optimisation capabilities have also been validated in the field: core haulage workflows remain stable under 4G-only coverage, and operations can continue seamlessly in localised network dead zones. Standard interfaces and adaptive calibration reduce dependence on specific OEMs and manual onsite tuning. This enables CiDi to transition from project-based retrofits to standardised deployments with minimal commissioning overhead. In summary, MetaMine extends OEM-agnostic autonomy into a full production-grade system capable of managing large-scale mixed fleets in extreme and complex environments.
Q What experience does CiDi have in providing autonomous haulage for battery-powered fleets, and how does the system manage charging or battery-swapping thresholds?
CiDi has extensive experience operating battery-powered autonomous haulage fleets, including both plug-in charging and battery-swapping architecture, as well as range-extended vehicle applications. Our customers have been able to take full advantage of both the fuel savings and simpler powertrain maintenance afforded by mining EVs. What matters in practice is not simply whether a truck can drive autonomously, but whether the fleet can maintain production while managing energy intelligently. MetaMine therefore treats charging and battery swapping as part of the haulage operation itself. The scheduling system continuously balances transport demand with vehicle state of charge, expected energy consumption, and the availability of charging or swapping facilities, so trucks can replenish energy without unnecessarily interrupting production. The decision on when a truck should charge or swap batteries is not based on a single fixed threshold. Vehicle and battery safety limits always take priority, while operators can adjust thresholds according to tasks ahead. At the fleet level, MetaMine optimises when and where trucks replenish energy rather than sending multiple vehicles to the same station at the same time. These optimisations can be done for both charging and swappingbased fleets.
Q Does CiDi expect the Chinese model of operating large fleets of battery or hybrid wide-body trucks to be adopted in overseas markets, or is the immediate international opportunity primarily focused on automating existing rigid mining trucks?
CiDi sees opportunities for both approaches internationally, but they are likely to develop at different speeds. In the near term, retrofitting existing rigid mining trucks provides a practical entry point in many overseas markets. Large mining operations outside China already have substantial fleets of high-value equipment with long remaining service lives. For these operators, retrofitting allows them to improve safety and productivity without replacing an entire fleet. This is where CiDi OEM-agnostic platform has a clear advantage. MetaMine can be integrated across different truck manufacturers and vehicle architectures, allowing operators to introduce autonomy into their existing fleet without being tied to a single OEM. Over time, CiDi also expects greater adoption of battery-electric and hybrid wide-body trucks, particularly as operators renew fleets, develop new sites, and place greater emphasis on emissions and energy costs. The rapid adoption of electric heavy vehicles in China has demonstrated the economics of combining electrification with autonomy at scale, and we expect that model to translate into overseas markets. However, we do not expect a simple copy-andpaste of the Chinese operating model. The right vehicle and energy architecture will depend on the site. Haul distances, gradients, climate, power availability, charging infrastructure, and production requirements all influence whether rigid trucks, wide-body trucks, battery-electric or hybrid, or a retrofit approach makes the most sense. Our international strategy therefore reflects both realities: retrofitting the equipment customers already own where that is the most practical route, while progressively scaling battery-electric wide-body trucks and purpose-built autonomous vehicles as conditions allow.
Q How does CiDi see the potential of combining TraxIQ with MetaMine?
TraxIQ and MetaMine are complementary because they address different parts of the same production problem. MMD has deep expertise in material-handling platforms and in designing systems for modularity, automation, and equipment integration. MetaMine contributes the autonomy stack needed to coordinate vehicles, traffic, and equipment across that environment. Combining the two creates an opportunity to move beyond the automation of individual trucks and instead optimise how the entire material-movement process works. For an operator, that could mean coordinating haulage, traffic, loading and unloading, energy use, and remote operations within one connected system. The value is not simply that each machine becomes more automated, but that the machines begin to function around a common production plan. A site may include autonomous trucks, manually driven vehicles, excavators, crushers, and other equipment from different manufacturers. MetaMine provides the orchestration layer to manage those interactions, while TraxIQ connects that intelligence more closely with the broader material-handling process. There is also a strong commercial fit. MMD brings an established international presence and close relationships with mining customers, while CiDi brings experience in large-scale fleets, mixed traffic, and demanding operating conditions.
22 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2026