Rio Tinto’s fleet of autonomous haul trucks have moved more than 1 billion tonnes of material to date. Since commencing trial operations in 2008, haul trucks fitted with autonomous haulage system (AHS) technology have now moved both ore and waste material across five sites in the Pilbara, including the newly commissioned Silvergrass mine. Last year, Rio Tinto’s autonomous fleet accounted for the movement of about a quarter of the total material moved across Pilbara mines. On average, each autonomous truck was estimated to have operated about 700 hours more than conventional haul trucks during 2017, with around 15 per cent lower load and haul unit costs. Importantly, there have been zero injuries attributed to autonomous haul trucks since deployment, highlighting their significant safety advantages [RT18].

Autonomous haulage systems used in mining are in high demand. The typical approach is to enhance existing mining trucks by integrating them with robust autonomous sub-systems. As an example, Komatsu introduced its FrontRunner® autonomous haulage system (codeveloped with Modular Mining Systems, USA) for use at Rio Tinto’s Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia. Meanwhile, at the Rio Tinto Pilbara mining site, about 100 autonomous trucks are operated. The trucks navigate the complex mining environment to deliver payloads of overburden and ore without drivers. This is revolutionising productivity and mine operations, especially at mines where it is difficult to secure sufficient labour, owing to their remote locations.