Rio Tinto to Expand Autonomous Fleet as Part of $5 Billion Productivity Drive

Rio Tinto will expand its fleet of autonomous haul trucks at its world-class iron ore operations in the Pilbara by more than 50 per cent by 2019 after signing agreements with leading manufacturers Caterpillar and Komatsu to convert traditional trucks to autonomous vehicles.
A total of 29 Komatsu haul trucks will be retrofitted with Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) technology starting next year. The project at the Brockman 4 operation is scheduled for completion by mid-2019, allowing the mine to run entirely in AHS mode once fully deployed.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said:

“We are excited to be starting a new chapter in our automation journey with a valued long-term partner in Caterpillar and we are proud to be extending our successful partnership with Komatsu on this world-first retrofitting initiative.”

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