China launches world’s largest fleet of driverless electric mining trucks

In a significant leap toward automation and green innovation, China has launched the world’s largest fleet of driverless electric mining trucks in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region using technologies of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and 5G-A connectivity.

At the Yimin open-pit coal mine in northeastern Inner Mongolia, 100 electric mining trucks are working non-stop. They're smart, self-guided, and part of a bold shift in heavy industry. These trucks have no driver, no steering wheel, not even a cabin. They can swap batteries in under six minutes and haul 90 tons for 60 kilometers on a single, full charge.

Developed by energy giant Huaneng Group, the fleet is powered entirely by clean energy and managed by what the company calls the world's first fully unmanned smart dispatch system.

"We have achieved pure electric unmanned driving on a fully domestic wide-body vehicle platform. It's completely different from operation using other unmanned mining trucks. Our mining trucks are also the most technologically advanced and largest-tonnage pure electric three-axle type integrating charging and battery swapping at present," said Li Shuxue, Communist Party Committee Secretary and chairman of Huaneng Inner Mongolia Eastern Energy Company.

Chinese tech giant Huawei provides the technological backbone -- developing an end-to-end solution from chip to cloud. Using its advanced 5G-A network, the system links every vehicle to a centralized AI-powered dispatch platform.

"We are the first to achieve innovation of the full-stack technical solution from the chip level, to the network level, and then to the cloud level in terms of technology. Therefore, the 5G-A technology ensures scheduling through the cloud and real-time connection at the vehicle end," said Shao Qi, general manager of the Open-pit Mine of Oil, Gas and Mining Business Unit under Huawei.

To navigate harsh terrain and weak signal zones, Huawei combines real-time kinematic positioning with LiDAR and inertial sensors. The result is centimeter-level accuracy -- crucial for aligning trucks with excavators and boosting safety and efficiency.

"The current industry operation efficiency using traditional unmanned mining trucks is between 90 percent and 95 percent. At Yimin, the current efficiency of production and operation using every 100 new unmanned mining trucks is required to reach 120 percent," said Shao.

Operating in extreme cold, soft rock, and water-rich soil, the Yimin mine is no easy testing ground. Coordinating 100 trucks in such a setting demands technological sophistication.

"For the by-wire chassis, we've adopted a domestic vehicle controller and independently developed a by-wire control program. The by-wire integrates braking, propulsion and unmanned driving, and makes a task scheduling and allocation," said Liu Wenbin, vehicle control engineer of Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group.

"The unmanned driving system for mining is a highly complex one, because each mine has its own characteristics. Together with weather conditions, climatic conditions and road conditions, these can all cause many technical difficulties," said Yang Jue, head of the Department of Vehicle Engineering of University of Science and Technology Beijing.

China launches world’s largest fleet of driverless electric mining trucks

As U.S. and Israeli military actions against Iran continue, their repercussions are increasingly being felt across Europe, Spanish residents and politicians are urging a united European to call for peace and solve the disputes through diplomatic means.

In Spain, the ongoing conflict has led to a sharp rise in the prices of goods and fuel in Madrid, the capital. People's voices are growing louder in their appeal for European nations to stand together against war and to resolve international disputes through dialogue and negotiation rather than military force.

"The U.S. has launched a war whose legitimacy is in question. The U.S. government then sought help from its allies with military bases, but the Spanish government refused this request. In response, the U.S. is considering trade restrictions against Spain, and possibly more measures. All of this is affecting local prices," said Nicolas, a Madrid resident.

Spanish officials warn that U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran are undermining international consensus and impacting the daily lives of people around the world. They urge European nations to stand with Spain in firmly opposing conflict and war, and to resolve disputes through diplomacy and negotiation.

"This conflict has indeed affected the way of life for us Spaniards. Although our military bases will not be used for attacks, food and energy prices keep rising. This means, whether we like it or not, we are directly or indirectly involved in this war, just like other parts of the world. That's why we need to show solidarity. We fully support the anti-war stance taken by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and government from the very beginning, and strongly recommend that this position be more strongly reflected at the European level," said Jose Luis Centella, chairman of the Communist Party of Spain.

Spain urges Europe to unite for peace amid US-Israel strikes on Iran