Scania has opened up orders for its new autonomous mining trucks, with interested buyers now able to purchase its 40-tonne autonomous heavy mining tipper.
Sales will first begin in Australia, with plans for deliveries and the beginning of operations in 2026. This will be followed by Latin America, which is also quite advanced in terms of mining solutions.
“The transition from research and development to the launch of a commercial product is a major milestone for us and for autonomous heavy transport in general. This is the most advanced product Scania has put on the market so far,” says Scania vice president and head of autonomous solutions Peter Hafmar.
Mines have already seen significant use and testing of autonomous vehicles, with companies like Mineral Resources investing in the conversion of existing vehicles into autonomous.
Scania says it is looking to smaller, civil-class trucks as opposed to the usual heavy haulage used in mining, with an ideal increase in productivity and decrease in emissions.
“Another benefit with our solution is that it allows mining companies to more quickly take the next step towards zero-emission operations,” Hafmar says.
“It’s easier to electrify operations with Scania’s autonomous trucks compared with traditional heavy haulage trucks.”
Scania has now invested heavily in the development of self-driving vehicles for the better part of the last decade. It says it has been looking closely at applications for hub-to-hub transport on highways as well as autonomous vehicles for confined areas such as mines.
The autonomous tipper truck has been developed in close cooperation between Scania’s R&D department and customers in the mining industry, with extensive testing in the harshest real-life conditions.
“It’s probably the most ambitious research and development project we have done so far together with a customer, and I am very pleased about the result,” Hafmar says.
“Thanks to all the rigorous checks and numerous on-site tests we have been able to develop an optimal autonomous transport solution for mines.”