Scania and Rio Tinto develop autonomous trucks

December 15, 2022

Scania and Rio Tinto have agreed to develop autonomous haulage solutions. The aim? To support a pathway to lower emissions in mining.

Scania and Rio Tinto are developing more agile autonomous haul trucks at a mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region to pursue potential environmental and productivity benefits.

The two companies have established a long-term research and development collaboration agreement for the continuous advancement of this autonomous technology, under which Rio Tinto’s Channar mine has become the first active partner site for Scania’s autonomous mining solution. The partnership also includes options for the future transition to electric-powered vehicles.

Rio Tinto and Scania launched new trials on Scania’s 40-tonne-payload autonomous mining trucks earlier this year and quickly reached a key milestone of driverless operation in a simulated load and haul cycle environment.

Rio Tinto group technical managing director Santi Pal says Rio Tinto is excited to partner with Scania to develop a mining solution that will create optionality across the company’s diverse portfolio.

“Collaboration and partnership are key to reimagining mining in the future. Our climate action plan includes phasing out the purchase of new diesel haul trucks by 2030, and partnering with industry leaders, such as Scania, across a range of fields is an important step towards achieving that. As well as the potential decarbonisation benefits, this partnership provides a path to potential productivity improvements.”

Scania vice president and head of autonomous solutions Peter Hafmar agrees that the partnership is a good fit. “With its dedication to achieving cleaner, more energy-efficient operations, Rio Tinto is the ideal partner and first customer for Scania as we seek to put mining on a pathway to net zero emissions. This is a major step towards the goals of a sustainable autonomous mining solution, and builds on our already fruitful long-term collaboration,” he notes.

Scania’s trucks have potential advantages over traditional heavy haulage trucks, both in terms of emissions and productivity.

Utilising Scania’s autonomous mining truck can reduce energy requirements, mining footprint, and infrastructure requirements, meaning that capital and operating expenses may also be reduced at suitable sites.

You can see the autonomous truck in action in this video.