Fortescue and Liebherr Mining have announced a partnership to jointly develop and validate a fully integrated autonomous haulage solution (AHS).
Fortescue aims to be the first AHS miner operating zero emissions vehicles globally.
The new AHS, which is being developed, tested and validated in partnership with Liebherr at Fortescue’s iron ore operations, integrates a fleet management system – or ‘FMS’ – onboard autonomy kit for the T 264 truck, and a high precision machine guidance system for loading equipment.
The FMS is designed to optimise fleet utilisation and maximise productivity, while ensuring efficient consumption of fuel and energy, helping to reduce carbon emissions.
“Our deep expertise in autonomous haulage, that has come from operating over 200 diesel autonomous haul trucks across our mine sites, has enabled Fortescue and Liebherr to develop a FMS that uniquely targets efficiency and unlocks untapped capacity in our fleet,” Fortescue Metals chief executive officer Dino Otranto said.
“The partnership with Liebherr has enabled us to jointly develop the FMS, which provide us with an original equipment manufacturer agnostic solution that can be integrated with any autonomous platform including trucks, drills, water carts or any other heavy mining equipment.
“This critical technology puts our business in full control of our development priorities and roadmap.”
The AHS enables the control and coordination of mixed fleets of autonomous vehicles, including selected autonomous ultra-class mining trucks, autonomous road trains and autonomous light vehicles.
“Liebherr has always prioritised market-led product development and we are privileged to be partnering with Fortescue to collectively develop and deploy this AHS,” Liebherr Mining research and development, engineering and production executive vice president Oliver Weiss said.
“Our collaborative efforts will be beneficial, not only for Fortescue, but for the entire mining industry.”
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