New Rigid Dump Truck Platform Retrofitted and Adapted to Autonomous Haulage in Only Four Months_EACON Mining Technology | Autonomous Haulage Solutions

Seven 90-tonne TR100A rigid dump trucks have progressed through retrofit to routine autonomous operation in approximately four months, demonstrating EACON’s ability to adapt its autonomous haulage system to a new vehicle platform within a short timeframe.

Autonomous haulage solution provider, EACON Mining Technology, has brought a new rigid dump truck platform into autonomous production at a coal mine in northern China, with a fleet of 90-tonne TR100A rigid dump trucks from Inner Mongolia North Hauler Joint Stock Co., Ltd. ('NHL') now operating autonomously without onboard safety drivers. The new vehicle platform adaptation for autonomous haulage was completed in approximately four months, with production performance exceeding the mine operator’s expectations, and the capability to support around-the-clock mine production.

Adapting a New Truck Model for Autonomous Haulage

The seven TR100A rigid dump trucks were retrofitted over the course of only three shifts, with the retrofit involving the installation of EACON's autonomous haulage system, while the trucks' drive-by-wire capability was supplied by the OEM.

As the TR100A was a new truck model for EACON’s autonomous haulage platform, the following month after the retrofit was dedicated to adapting and validating the system. This included control validation and autonomous haulage system safety validation. The trucks then completed approximately three months of full-cycle testing under normal production conditions, with safety drivers onboard. This testing provided an opportunity to validate autonomous operation across the mine’s production cycle and operating conditions before progressing to driverless operation.

In total, the entire vehicle platform adaptation for the new truck model took only four months.

Transitioning to Autonomous Production

The mine operator took a phased approach to the transition, aligning autonomous fleet deployment with production requirements and the availability of loading equipment.

Following successful testing, safety drivers were removed from these trucks at the end of August, with autonomous operations initially conducted during the day shift before expanding to around-the-clock operation at the end of September.

The operating environment has the potential to include mixed traffic of autonomous haul trucks sharing roads with manned vehicles. Loaded trucks also travel uphill between the loading area and crusher, while seasonal conditions range from snow and ice in winter to muddy roads during periods of thaw and rainfall.

Expanding EACON's Vehicle Platform Experience

For EACON, this project adds a new 90-tonne rigid dump truck platform to its growing vehicle experience adapting over 100 truck models from more than 10 OEMs, and demonstrates the ability to take a new truck model through adaptation, validation and production deployment within a defined timeframe.

CEO of EACON Australia, Jaden He, commented:

“Bringing a new rigid dump truck platform into routine autonomous operation demonstrates EACON's ability to adapt and validate our system across different vehicle platforms while working within the requirements of an operating mine. The project progressed from retrofit to autonomous production in approximately four months, with production performance exceeding the client’s expectations. This provides a strong foundation for further scaling autonomous haulage across diverse fleets.”