China has achieved a world first with the completion of a fleet of autonomous electric mining trucks in Inner Mongolia, an effort that will let down more than 12.6bn tons of ore and coal over the next two decades along a 5G-powered highway. At the Yimin open-pit coal mine, Chinese state-owned Huaneng Group is using this technology with load haul dump (LHD) trucks from XCMG and 5G pilot applications for remote control unmanned operations by Huawei to deploy 100 self-driving trucks, realizing innovation of smart mining and intelligent operation.
The vehicles, called Huaneng Ruichi, are fully electric and come with advanced autonomous driving systems. Each unit can carry out up to 90 tons of material over the mine’s undulating landscape, while doing so without a human driver in the cab. Engineers created the fleet to withstand harsh environments, such as winters so extremely cold that temperatures can plunge to minus 40 degrees Celsius, guaranteeing uninterrupted year-round operation.
The system uses state-of-the-art technology, including 5G-Advanced networks, to operate efficiently. cloud computing, artificial intelligence and accurate mapping to coordinate operations. The trucks also employ a cutting-edge battery-swapping system, allowing them to rapidly swap out dead batteries for freshly charged ones — thereby minimizing downtime and maximizing efficiency.
