A landmark agreement between Mineral Resources (MinRes) and global leader in digital reality solutions Hexagon, will deliver the world’s first fleet of autonomous road trains, transforming safety, productivity and sustainability throughout Australia.
The 120 world-first, fully autonomous road trains are a full site solution, with the autonomous and unmanned system helping to form an essential part of MinRes’ Onslow Iron project supply chain in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.
Hexagon’s autonomous solution stack will be the centre of the platooning system and includes an integrated drive-by-wire technology with an autonomous management system to orchestrate vehicle movement in road train haulage.
Hexagon President and CEO, Paolo Guglielmini, said that the new agreement with MinRes will help change transportation throughout the agricultural industry.
“At Hexagon, we see autonomy as a way to vastly improve our world.
“The agreement with MinRes will ensure that off-road transport activities will be safer, more sustainable, and more productive. I’m excited to see how similar solutions can be applied in other off-road markets such as agriculture and heavy industry,” Mr Guglielmini said.
MinRes Chief Executive, Mike Grey, said that the company is excited to help deliver the world-first fleet as well as help transform the mining industry in the future.
“We’re excited to announce our agreement with Hexagon to deliver the world’s first fleet of autonomous road trains, which will be an essential part of Onslow Iron’s safe, efficient and dust-free solution for hauling ore.
“Automation will remove the risk of driver fatigue, lower operating costs and reduce fuel use and emissions. There’s enormous potential for these vehicles to transform mining across the world,” Mr Grey said.
Featured image: Mineral Resources and Hexagon automated road train. Image credit: Hexagon AB.
