A fleet of 100 unmanned electric haul trucks has started operations at the Yiming Open-pit Coal Mine in north China's Inner Mongolia, improving efficiency and reducing costs thanks to advanced digital and intelligent technologies.
Working around-the-clock, these smart, self-guided trucks can boost the mine's waste rock transportation efficiency by 20 percent with the help of sensors and a vehicle-cloud network.
"For example, if the trucks encounter cattle or sheep while running, they can detect the animals from about 100 meters. This mainly enabled by the four millimeter-wave radars, five lidars, and six vision cameras mounted on each vehicle. Through independent perception and decision-making, the trucks can take active safety measures like emergency braking or detouring upon detecting obstacles or foreign objects," said Shu Yingqiu, manager of the mine.
Geographical data collected by the trucks will be uploaded to create a constantly updated map, enabling all trucks to optimize their routes based on real-time road conditions.
"The open-pit mine has a constantly changing map, especially in loading and dumping areas. When one truck detects an obstacle, it remains invisible to other vehicles. After the cloud platform has been built, the 100 trucks share a vision and can all quickly adjust their routes accordingly," said He Wei, a manager of the unmanned truck project.
Moreover, these electric haul trucks are estimated to save the mine more than 15,000 tons of diesel fuel a year.
"Annual energy costs traditionally account for over 40 percent of waste rock transportation expenses. Taking Yimin as an example, the cost of transporting waste rock is about 12 yuan (about 1.67 U.S. dollars) per cubic meter using conventional trucks. However, with this electric solution, our calculation is less than seven yuan per cubic meter," said Li Shuxue, chairman of the Huaneng Inner Mongolia Eastern Energy Company.
The Yiming Open-pit Coal Mine plans to expand the fleet with another 100 driverless trucks for coal transportation.
"Transportation constitutes the largest operational workload in most open-pit mines. That's why a major portion of open-pit mine going-intelligent efforts concentrate on unmanned haul trucks," said Wang Guofa, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The total number of unmanned haul trucks deployed in open-pit mines across China was around 2,500 in 2024, and the figure is expected to reach 5,000 this year, representing a market size of 20 billion yuan (about 2.78 billion U.S. dollars), according to the China National Coal Association.
North China mine deploys fleet of 100 unmanned electric haul trucks
Foreign diplomats and scholars are looking closely at this year's "two sessions", saying China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) will not only chart the nation's economic and technological priorities but also reshape global value chains.
The fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation's top political advisory body, opened on Wednesday, followed by the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Thursday. Together known as the "two sessions," these meetings offer a comprehensive view into China's development priorities.
Global observers emphasized that the 15th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint guiding the nation's economic, social, and technological priorities over the next five years, marks a decisive shift toward high‑quality growth anchored in advanced technologies, with ripple effects across the world.
"The two sessions will discuss China's five-year plan, which is heavily oriented toward China's major technological development. I believe this is important because it represents the new blueprint for China's economy, which is now oriented toward the renowned high-quality development, and this will undoubtedly impact the entire world. I think it is worth studying. This is very important for Latin America. It will help us integrate more intelligently into global value chains and into all aspects of the major development that China is promoting in iconic industrial sectors, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and space development, where Latin America also has much to contribute beyond just commercial growth," said Gustavo Sabino Vaca Narvaja, former Argentine Ambassador to China.
"The two sessions are a major political milestone in China, and this year's gathering carries even greater significance as this year marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan. This plan represents not only a blueprint for China, but also a guide for other countries. Instruments like the five-year plan effectively provide greater certainty and predictability for the rest of the world," said Chilean scholar of international relations Ignacio Araya Heredia.
"This is a particularly important date, especially due to the fact that the next Five-Year Plan shall be positioned and we're going to see what its main elements shall be. Serbia, which has a very high degree of steel friendship with the People's Republic of China, can expect further assistance in identifying the most prominent areas of Serbian economy and being helped by its great partner, such as it has been done in the previous period, from one part with establishing the main infrastructure projects, but also reshaping the industrial sector of Serbia, not just Serbia, but the region as a whole," said Veljko Mijuskovic, assistant professor of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade.
Beyond the policy framework, experts also pointed to China's achievements in green energy and technological innovation as models worth emulating.
Tomasz Bielinski, adjunct professor at the University of Gdansk's Faculty of Economics, said the robotics displays at the 2026 China Media Group (CMG) Spring Festival Gala reflected China's broader push in technological innovation.
"I was really impressed about the robotics. I'm very impressed with Chinese development in the technological field, we can still make great deals with Chinese businessmen and we can cooperate together to use this technology for both the good of China and the European Union. I'm aware of the innovation especially in autonomous drive on the on the Chinese side," he said.
"We hope for more of China's economic cooperation, especially in trade and also in investment. Also, and the other focus, if I talk about the focus of the development, don't forget about the green energy. We know that China is great in the electric vehicle field. So because China's electric vehicles in Indonesia nowadays, since couple of years ago, are very, very popular," said Al Busyra Basnur, president of the Indonesia-China Friendship Association.
Observers see China's new five-year plan driving high-quality development, global tech shifts
