Cabless electric haulage is moving autonomy from a fleet-control project toward a broader redesign of the open-pit mine.
By Sonny Rollins
Autonomous mining technology has reached a scale that is changing how operators plan entire mines rather than individual machines.
Komatsu’s commissioning of its 1,000th ultra-class autonomous haul truck in April 2026 provided the clearest marker of that shift. The milestone vehicle, a 290-metric-ton Komatsu 930E-5AT, was deployed at Barrick’s Nevada Gold Mines operation in the United States. Komatsu said its FrontRunner Autonomous Haulage System has moved more than 11.5 billion metric tons of material since commercial deployment began in 2008.
That figure does not mean every mine is ready to remove drivers or replace diesel equipment overnight. It does show that autonomous haulage has moved beyond pilot projects. The next phase combines autonomous fleets with electric drivetrains, remote operations, digital drilling plans and retrofit programs designed to modernize existing equipment.
For mine operators, the central question is no longer whether a truck can drive itself. It is whether the mine’s roads, loading systems, communications network, workforce and production plan are ready to operate as one autonomous system.
The Komatsu milestone and the scale effect
Komatsu reached 1,000 commissioned ultra-class autonomous trucks less than a year after reporting 875 trucks in service. The speed of that increase is significant because large autonomous fleets require more than onboard sensors and software.
They require:
- Digitally mapped haul roads and loading zones
- Reliable wireless communications across the pit
- Geofenced operating areas
- Traffic-management rules for mixed fleets
- Remote supervision and exception handling
- Maintenance and emergency-response procedures
- Workforce training for new technical roles
Komatsu’s 930E platform also illustrates the direction of the market. The truck is an electric-drive vehicle, although electric drive is not the same as battery-electric propulsion. In conventional ultra-class electric-drive trucks, a diesel engine typically powers a generator, which then supplies electric motors. Battery-electric trucks remove the diesel generator from the propulsion chain and introduce new requirements around charging, battery swapping, grid capacity and energy management.
Komatsu has also demonstrated autonomous operation of an electric-drive truck connected to a dynamic trolley line. That points toward a mixed energy future in which mines combine trolley assist, regenerative braking, battery systems and software-controlled dispatch.
The commercial value of scale is equally important. A thousand-unit global installed base creates more operating data, trained personnel, standardized procedures and supplier support. It also lowers the perceived implementation risk for mining companies considering autonomy at copper, gold, iron ore and critical-minerals operations.
Case study: Freeport’s Bagdad conversion
Freeport-McMoRan’s Bagdad copper mine in Arizona offers one of the clearest examples of autonomy being introduced through a fleet retrofit rather than a greenfield mine design.
According to Freeport’s project update, all 33 autonomous haul trucks at Bagdad had been operating since August 2025. Seven staffed trucks continued working in a separate area during the transition, with the site planning to complete the move to fully autonomous haulage after the end of that year.
The project required substantial site work. Freeport built a command center, upgraded communications and data-transmission systems, widened roads and established an isolated autonomous operating zone to reduce interactions with manned vehicles.
That infrastructure is a useful reminder that autonomy is an operating-model change. The truck retrofit is only one component. Road geometry, intersection control, maintenance access and blast procedures all have to be redesigned around predictable machine behavior.
The workforce transition is another central issue. Freeport reported that more than 200 haul-truck drivers were moved into other roles, including shovel operation, autonomous-system support and information-technology positions. The company said 217 drivers had found new roles by mid-September 2025.
This is likely to become a defining feature of automation programs. Autonomous haulage reduces the need for people inside moving trucks, but it increases demand for technicians, dispatch specialists, data analysts, control-room operators, electrical engineers and maintenance planners.
Remote operations centers are becoming the coordination layer for autonomous mine fleets.
Rio Tinto, BHP and the move toward integrated fleets
Rio Tinto provides one of the sector’s most mature examples of integrated automation. The company says it operates more than 130 autonomous trucks across its iron ore operations and 40 autonomous drills across five drill platforms and seven mine sites.
Its automation program combines autonomous trucks with autonomous trains, drills, charge trucks, drones and remote operations centers. Rio says a controller in its Perth Operations Centre can plan activity for as many as eight drills across several mine sites from a single console.
The company has also reported that autonomous trucks operated about 700 additional hours per year compared with conventional haul trucks in an earlier assessment, with 15% lower costs. Those figures are historical and site-specific rather than a universal benchmark, but they illustrate why fleet utilization remains a primary business case for autonomy.
BHP and Rio Tinto are also testing the next link between autonomy and electrification. Their collaboration with Caterpillar on battery-electric haul trucks is designed to assess energy efficiency, battery life, charging cycles, scheduling, fleet integration and infrastructure needs. The results could inform larger deployments of battery-electric haul trucks within existing autonomous operating environments.
The integration challenge is substantial. Battery-electric trucks may require different dispatch rules because charging time, payload, route gradient and regenerative-braking opportunities affect each cycle. Autonomous software must therefore optimize not only distance and traffic but also energy state and charging availability.
Cabless electric trucks change the design brief
The most visible sign of the next phase is the arrival of cabless electric autonomous trucks in large open-pit operations.
At China Huaneng’s Yimin open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia, a fleet of 100 autonomous electric trucks entered operation in 2025. The Yimin project uses 90-ton-class Huaneng Ruichi and XCMG ZNK95 trucks, automated battery swapping and a 5G-Advanced communications network.
The site demonstrates the relationship between vehicle design and mine infrastructure. A cabless truck removes the operator enclosure, reduces human exposure to dust, traffic and unstable ground, and allows the vehicle to be designed around sensors, batteries and maintenance access. But that design only works when the network, control system and emergency procedures are sufficiently reliable.
The AT150, a 136-ton-class electric and bidirectional autonomous truck deployed at an open-pit coal mine in Inner Mongolia, extends the concept further. Its ability to operate in both directions is designed for constrained haul roads where turning large trucks can reduce productivity.
These deployments remain concentrated in specific operating environments, and their economics will depend on battery durability, charging infrastructure, weather, haul profiles and local power costs. Nevertheless, they establish a credible pathway toward cabless haulage at scale.
Sandvik’s drilling systems show why autonomy is expanding upstream
Haulage receives most of the attention, but drilling may deliver equally important operational benefits because drill accuracy affects every stage that follows.
Sandvik’s AutoMine Surface Fleet enables operators to manage more than 15 surface i-series drill rigs from a connected location. Its AutoCycle system automates stabilization, positioning, collaring, drilling, pipe handling, hole finishing and movement to the next hole.
The system was field-tested at Boliden’s Kevitsa multi-metal mine in Finland, where geological complexity, water and frost create difficult drilling conditions. FleetFlex also allows operators to coordinate the transfer of multiple rigs between stations.
The significance is broader than reducing manual drilling time. Accurate positioning and consistent hole execution improve blast design, fragmentation and downstream loading. A mine that links 3D digital drill plans with autonomous equipment can reduce deviations between the planned and actual blast pattern, generating better data for shovel and truck scheduling.
That is the beginning of a closed operational loop: geological models inform drilling, drilling informs blasting, blasting changes fragmentation, and fragmentation affects loading, haulage and processing.
Deployment tracker: where the market stands
| Deployment or capability | Reported scale | Strategic significance |
|---|---|---|
| Komatsu FrontRunner autonomous haul trucks | 1,000 commissioned globally | Confirms commercial maturity of ultra-class autonomous haulage |
| Komatsu FrontRunner material moved | More than 11.5 billion metric tons | Demonstrates accumulated operating experience |
| Freeport Bagdad autonomous fleet | 33 trucks | Shows the scale of a major U.S. retrofit program |
| Rio Tinto autonomous trucks | More than 130 | Demonstrates long-term fleet integration |
| Rio Tinto autonomous drills | 40 across seven sites | Extends autonomy into drilling and blast planning |
| Sandvik AutoMine Surface Fleet | More than 15 rigs managed remotely | Shows fleet-level drilling coordination |
| Yimin electric autonomous fleet | 100 trucks, about 90-ton class | Demonstrates cabless electric haulage at site scale |
Safety, productivity and the labor question
The strongest safety case for autonomy is the removal of people from active haulage zones. Autonomous systems can reduce exposure to collisions, fatigue, dust, high walls and interaction with heavy equipment.
The productivity case is based on consistency. Software does not take meal breaks, vary braking behavior or lose concentration at the end of a shift. It can also coordinate truck dispatch, loading and dumping more precisely.
Those gains are not automatic. Poor road conditions, weak communications, incorrect geofencing or inadequate maintenance can reduce availability and create new risks. Autonomous operations therefore shift safety management toward system design, cybersecurity, communications resilience and exception handling.
The labor impact will also be uneven. Some driving roles will decline, while technical and supervisory positions expand. Mines that treat retraining as part of the capital project are likely to manage the transition more effectively than those that view workforce change as a secondary issue.
Outlook through 2030
By 2030, autonomous mining technology is likely to develop along three connected tracks.
First, large fleets will continue expanding through factory-built autonomous equipment and retrofit kits. Retrofits will remain important for operators that cannot justify replacing entire truck fleets.
Second, autonomy and electrification will increasingly be designed together. Battery-electric trucks, trolley assist, automated charging and energy-aware dispatch will become part of the same production system rather than separate technology projects.
Third, autonomous control will move further upstream and downstream. Drilling, blasting, water trucks, dozers, stockpiles, trains and processing plants will increasingly share data and operating rules.
The result will not be a fully empty mine. It will be a mine with fewer people exposed to hazardous mobile equipment and more people working in technical, analytical and supervisory roles.
Komatsu’s 1,000-truck milestone shows that autonomous haulage has reached industrial scale. Cabless electric trucks and fleet-level drilling systems suggest where the next gains will come from: not simply machines that move independently, but operations planned around continuous data, coordinated equipment and a different definition of the mining workforce.
Social snippet : LinkedIn/X:
Autonomous mining has moved beyond pilot projects. Komatsu has commissioned 1,000 FrontRunner haul trucks, Freeport has converted Bagdad’s fleet, Rio Tinto operates more than 130 autonomous trucks, and cabless electric fleets are scaling in China. The next frontier is integration: trucks, drills, energy systems and mine planning working as one platform.