MMD, CiDi partner for autonomous material handling in mining

China’s CiDi Inc. said it has signed an exclusive agreement with MMD Group Ltd. to co-develop autonomous material movement solutions for the global mining market. The partnership covers joint R&D, integration and global deployment.

MMD recently acquired the TraxIQ technology from Anglo American. (Photo: MMD)

“Autonomous material handling is critical to improving efficiency, enhancing safety, and reducing operating costs,” said Martin Vorster, group managing director of MMD Group. “CiDi’s advanced technology and proven deployment experience, complement MMD’s global reach and manufacturing capabilities.”

MMD Group is a provider of mineral processing solutions with over 45 years of experience. Headquartered in the Isle of Man, it operates 23 offices and six manufacturing facilities worldwide.

“This partnership marks a milestone in bringing CiDi’s autonomous mining technology to global markets,” said Dr. Ma Wei, co-founder and vice chairman of the board of CiDi. “It represents a transition from domestic leadership to international deployment.”

Founded in 2017, China-based CiDi is an autonomous driving company specialising in commercial vehicles, with solutions spanning autonomous mining trucks, logistics vehicles, V2X, and intelligent perception systems. The company has reportedly deployed over 1,500 autonomous mining trucks in mainland China.

TraxIQ playing key role

The partnership will combine MMD’s experience in heavy machinery and chassis engineering with CiDi’s expertise in perception, control and autonomous driving systems to develop autonomous mining trucks, with MMD’s TraxIQ platform playing a key role in the joint development.

MMD recently signed an agreement with mining company Anglo American for the intellectual property rights for TraxIQ, a system-level material handling solution originally developed by the miner. As owner of the TraxIQ IP, MMD said it will be able to lead its industrialisation, commercialisation, and global deployment.

With global mineral and metal demand continuing to accelerate, MMD said the mining industry is under increasing pressure to manage complexity while adopting new approaches to improve productivity, lower emissions, and reduce total cost per tonne.

MMD said the system-level architecture of TraxIQ is designed to support scalable deployment across diverse mining environments, integrating modular vehicle architecture, advanced energy-management strategies and integrated autonomous control systems. The company’s Centre of Excellence in the Isle of Man is working on industrialisation and product development. 

As part of the agreement, CiDi will serve as the exclusive supplier of autonomous driving systems for MMD’s mining equipment automation solutions, providing autonomous driving kits and technical support. The partnership establishes an integrated “technology, manufacturing, and distribution” model.

As part of the agreement, MMD will introduce CiDi’s autonomous mining trucks, along with dispatch systems and charging infrastructure, into its global portfolio. The autonomous vehicles are expected to be demonstrated globally to support international marketing and customer engagement across major mining markets.

The global autonomous mining truck market is entering a period of rapid growth, said CiDi. The company said it will continue to expand its international presence, including expansion into key markets such as Australia, South America, and the Middle East and North Africa region. The company said the partnership marks a shift from standalone technology delivery toward an integrated global model combining technology, manufacturing and distribution.

Inner Mongolia success

CiDi said a fleet of 100 of its autonomous trucks are operating under normalized, continuous production conditions at an open-pit coal mine in Hailar District in Inner Mongolia. (Photo: CiDi)

In March, CiDi said 100 haul trucks equipped with its autonomous system operated at full capacity in an open-pit coal mine in Inner Mongolia when temperatures dropped to –40 degrees Celsius. The fleet reportedly completed loading, hauling, and unloading cycles on the first day of operations following the Chinese New Year holiday.

In September 2025, Mengdong Mining Construction partnered with CiDi to deploy the fleet of autonomous mining trucks. Prior to deployment, the mining company relied on human drivers. Each year, extreme cold and hazardous road conditions reportedly delayed workforce return, postponing production restart. With autonomous haulage in place, CiDi said production can now resume through remote operations, significantly reducing weather-related disruptions.

From December 2025 through January 2026, prolonged freezing weather and icy road surfaces posed additional operational challenges. CiDi said its enhanced anti-slip control, dynamic speed optimization, vehicle stability systems, and advanced environmental perception technologies allowed the fleet to maintain stable performance during low-temperature start-up and ice-surface driving, with no production interruptions.