Autonomous Mining

haulage · underground · China · battery trucks

Mining is the largest driverless heavy-vehicle market, and since 2025 China has had more autonomous haul trucks than Australia. China's fleet runs on Chinese software and, increasingly, on battery-electric trucks; the Western fleet still runs mostly on diesel-electric giants.

Horizontal bar chart of autonomous haul trucks by country in July 2025: China 2,090, Australia 1,024, Canada 344, Chile 208, rest of world 166, out of 3,832 worldwide. Below, the stacks with the largest fleets: Komatsu FrontRunner (more than 1,000 trucks), Caterpillar MineStar Command (US), EACON (2,580 trucks in China at end-2025) and Liebherr's battery-electric T 264 (360 ordered by Fortescue). AUTONOMOUS HAUL TRUCKS BY COUNTRY, JULY 2025 China 2,090 Australia 1,024 Canada 344 Chile 208 Rest of world 166 STACKS WITH THE LARGEST FLEETS Komatsu FrontRunner 1,000+ trucks Caterpillar MineStar Command US EACON 2,580 trucks China, end-2025 Liebherr T 264 battery Fortescue: 360 3,832 trucks worldwide in July 2025 (GlobalData), up 84% in a year.
Worldwide fleet
3,832, July 2025
Komatsu FrontRunner
1,000th truck, 2026
EACON active fleet
2,580, end-2025
Hub
Vehicles

Finding

China overtook Australia in autonomous haul trucks in 2025, using domestic autonomy stacks on mostly Chinese trucks, while Western autonomy waits on battery-electric ultra-class trucks

GlobalData counted 2,090 autonomous haul trucks in China in July 2025, up from 562 a year earlier, against 1,024 in Australia, 344 in Canada and 208 in Chile. EACON, the largest Chinese integrator, reported 2,580 active trucks at the end of 2025 and a 55.5% share of China's market by vehicle count, across 30 mines.

Komatsu and Caterpillar built the market on ultra-class diesel-electric trucks at iron ore, copper, gold and oil sands mines. Komatsu commissioned its 1,000th FrontRunner truck, a 930E-5 at Nevada Gold Mines, in April 2026; FrontRunner customers have moved more than 11.5 billion metric tons. BHP and Rio Tinto each run more than 300 autonomous trucks, and Rio Tinto's AutoHaul runs driverless heavy-haul trains in the Pilbara. Electric is a second step on the same trucks: Komatsu's 930E-5 is trolley-ready and power-agnostic, Caterpillar's battery-electric 793 XE is in trials at BHP's Jimblebar with Rio Tinto, and Fortescue has ordered 360 battery-electric autonomous Liebherr T 264 trucks for 2025-2030.

China's growth came from coal. State-owned CHN Energy runs 509 autonomous trucks and Guanghui Energy 420, mostly at large open-pit coal mines in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. The trucks are smaller wide-body and rigid trucks from Tonly, LGMG, SANY, XCMG and Yutong, and many are battery-electric, charging or swapping packs at the pit. Software comes from integrators - EACON, Tage Idriver, Waytous, Boonray - and from the OEMs themselves, running over private 5G networks. EACON began its Hong Kong listing in June 2026, the first autonomous mining company to list.

Underground autonomy runs on loaders (LHDs, load-haul-dump machines) and trucks supervised from a surface control room, because satellite positioning does not reach below ground; the machine navigates by lidar against the tunnel walls. Sandvik's AutoMine and Epiroc's Scooptram automation run battery-electric machines such as the Sandvik LH518B and the Epiroc Scooptram ST14 Battery, and battery machines also cut ventilation demand, the largest energy cost in a deep mine. For sites and fleets, see Autonomous Mines and Autonomous Mining Fleets.

Dataset

Autonomous and remote-capable mining machines in the ElectronsX dataset

Mining machines from the equipment dataset with an Autonomy entry of autonomous, remote or assist: battery-electric first, then hybrid-electric (trolley-assist and diesel-electric). The list holds 10 machines, 5 rated autonomous.

Autonomy-capable mining machines
Make and modelTypeCountryPowertrainBattery kWhAutonomyStatusDeployments
Sandvik LH518BLHDFinlandbattery-electricautonomousin production
Sandvik TH550Bunderground truckFinlandbattery-electricautonomousin productionDeveloped from the Artisan Z50 (Artisan Vehicle Systems, bought by Sandvik in 2019)
SANY SKT145Eiwide-body truckChinabattery-electricautonomousin production
Liebherr T 264 battery-electric (Fortescue Roadrunner)haul truckGermanybattery-electric1400autonomouspilotFortescue, Christmas Creek (Pilbara); first truck due in operation by end-2026; part of a US$2.8 billion deal for about 475 Liebherr machines
Caterpillar R1700 XELHDUSbattery-electricremotein production
Epiroc Scooptram ST14 BatteryLHDSwedenbattery-electricremotein production
Epiroc Scooptram ST7 BatteryLHDSwedenbattery-electricremotein production
Epiroc Boomer M2 Batterydrill rigSwedenbattery-electricassistin production
Sandvik DD422iEdrill rigFinlandbattery-electricassistin production
Komatsu 930E-5 (trolley-ready, power agnostic)haul truckJapanhybrid-electricautonomousin productionFrontRunner autonomous fleets in Australia, Chile and Canada

Stacks

Mining autonomy stacks

Western OEM stacks first, then retrofit kits, then Chinese integrators and OEMs.

Mining autonomy stacks
StackCompanyCountryMachinesElectric trucksScale and sites
MineStar CommandCaterpillarUS789, 793, 797 and 794 AC haul trucks; dozers, drills793 XE battery-electric trial at BHP JimblebarBHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue and others
FrontRunnerKomatsuJapan930E and 980E haul trucks930E-5 trolley-ready, power-agnostic1,000th truck April 2026 (Nevada Gold Mines); 11.5 billion t hauled
Autonomous haulage systemHitachi Construction MachineryJapanEH-series AC-drive haul trucksEH4000AC-3 battery trial with trolley at Kansanshi (Zambia)Australian coal
Liebherr autonomyLiebherrGermanyT 264 and T 284 haul trucksT 264 battery-electric360 battery-electric autonomous trucks ordered by Fortescue
Autonomous drilling and haulage; Mobius (ex-ASI Mining)EpirocSwedenPit Viper drills, Scooptram loaders, mixed-brand trucksScooptram ST14 Battery, Minetruck MT42 BatterySurface drilling and underground loading worldwide
AutoMineSandvikSwedenUnderground loaders, trucks, drillsLH518B, TH550B battery-electricUnderground metal mines worldwide
Pronto AHS (with SafeAI)ProntoUSRetrofit for haul trucks and articulated dump trucksNot statedHeidelberg Materials quarries, 100+ trucks planned
EACONEACONChinaWide-body and rigid trucks from Chinese OEMsBattery-electric wide-body trucks2,580 active trucks at 30 mines (CHN Energy, SPIC, TBEA)
Tage IdriverTage IdriverChinaRigid and wide-body haul trucksBattery-electric with Chinese OEMsInner Mongolia coal and iron ore mines
WaytousWaytousChinaHaul trucks, loaders, mixed fleetsNot statedChinese open-pit coal mines
BoonrayBoonrayChinaHaul trucksNot statedChinese open-pit mines
OEM autonomySANY, XCMG, Tonly, Yutong, LGMGChinaWide-body trucksSANY SKT145Ei, XCMG XGE110E, Yutong YKT115ETonly and LGMG with Caterpillar and Komatsu supply 88% of trucks GlobalData tracks

By country

Autonomous haul trucks by country

Autonomous haul trucks by country, July 2025 (GlobalData)
CountryTrucksLargest operators
China2,090CHN Energy 509; Guanghui Energy 420 (Baishihu coal mine, the largest single-site fleet)
Australia1,024BHP 360; Rio Tinto 305
Canada344Oil sands and metal mines
Chile208Copper mines
World3,832Up 84% in a year; GlobalData expects close to 5,000 by 2030

Sources

Sources and scope

Scope
Autonomous Mining
Sources
GlobalData via Mining Technology (July 2025 fleet counts); Komatsu (April 2026); EACON Hong Kong listing (June 2026); Fortescue and Liebherr; Pronto; Caterpillar; Epiroc; Sandvik; ElectronsX equipment dataset; Oct 2026
Updated
October 2026