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Rio Tinto to retrofit Cat trucks with driverless tech

Nineteen Cat 793F mining haul trucks are to be retrofitted for autonomous operation under an agreement signed between Caterpillar and Rio Tinto.

 


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Caterpillar will also install Cat Command for Hauling software for the operation of the autonomous fleet at the Marandoo iron ore mine in Western Australia.

This will be the first fleet of Cat autonomous trucks deployed by Rio Tinto.

The first few trucks will be retrofitted in mid-2018, and the project will be completed by the end of 2019. Beyond installation and startup, both Caterpillar and regional Cat dealer WesTrac will play ongoing roles in managing and supporting the autonomous haulage system.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to work with Rio Tinto in installing their first Cat autonomous haulage system,” Caterpillar Surface Mining & Technology Division vice president Jean Savage says. “Working with WesTrac, we look forward to helping Rio Tinto enhance operations with our proven mining technology.”

Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Chris Salisbury says the company has partnered with Caterpillar for 50 years and is excited about the program.

“This project with Caterpillar accelerates deployment of autonomous haulage via retrofit in our Pilbara operations and helps meet our objectives of making our operations safer and more productive,” he says.

The Cat autonomous trucks system draws capabilities from the full range of Cat MineStar System technologies – Command, Terrain, Fleet, Detect and Health. At Marandoo, the mine-wide implementation of Fleet, the scheduling-and-assignment and material tracking system, will mark the first use of the system by Rio Tinto.

 

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