CHART: The bigger the miner, the more likely it runs autonomous trucks

MINING.COM Staff Writer | July 10, 2014 | 5:41 pm

Autonomous vehicle adoption by revenue. Data is from Timetric.

Thirty percent of Australian companies with revenues over US$10 billion are using autonomous vehicles while only 3% of companies with less than US$1 billion are deploying the technology, according to a newly released study by Timetric.

Survey questioned over 110 mine managers, maintenance managers, procurement managers and other key decision-makers currently working in over 90 Australian mines.

Other key findings:

  • The share of underground mines using autonomous vehicles is expected to increase from 32% to 45% in Australia over the next ten years.
  • The three top areas for new technology investment are ‘environmental monitoring and emissions management’, ‘equipment health monitoring and diagnostics’ and ‘collision avoidance/proximity detection’.
  • For all three areas, 30% or more respondents are considering investing within the next two years.
  • When asked about the time frames for using autonomous vehicles, 19% of respondents were already using autonomous vehicles at their mine site, but only a further 15% were planning to use in the next 10 years.
  • As part of the survey, respondents were asked to rank ‘safety’, ‘productivity improvements’ and ‘cost reduction’ in terms of the number one driver for technology investment, with safety found to be the number one driver within the Australian mining industry.

2 Comments

  • Guest

    Usually, you should use outsider vehicles at an early life of the mine before you have a profit large enough to afford your own fleet. After that point keeping autonomos fleet is either wrong habit or corruption.

  • Sergo Cusiani

    Usually, you should use outsider vehicles at an early life of the mine before you have a profit large enough to afford your own fleet. After that point keeping autonomos fleet is either wrong habit or corruption.