Partners start development of Autonomous Haulage Solutions haul truck

T 264 AHS haul truck (Photo: Fortescue)

Fortescue and Liebherr Mining are to jointly develop and validate a fully-integrated Autonomous Haulage Solution (AHS).

According to the related release, the iron ore hauler will be the first AHS of its type in the world.

The new AHS will feature a fleet management system, onboard autonomy kit for the T 264 truck (pictured), and a high-precision machine guidance system for loading equipment.

With these systems the FMS is intended to optimise fleet utilization, maximising productivity and fuel usage to help reduce related carbon emissions.

The AHS enables control and coordination of mixed fleets of autonomous vehicles, including selected autonomous ultra-class mining trucks, road trains and light vehicles.

Oliver Weiss, EVP R&D, Engineering, and Production, Liebherr Mining, said: “Liebherr has always prioritised market-led product development and we are privileged to be partnering with Fortescue to collectively develop and deploy this autonomous haulage solution. Our collaborative efforts will be beneficial not only for Fortescue, but for the entire mining industry.”

The partnership dates back to 2022, when the two companies announced their intention to build a zero-emissions haulage solution using fuel cell and battery-electric technology.

Development of the AHS is put forward as a next step in delivery of zero-emission autonomous haul trucks which will operate at the iron ore operations in Pilbara, Western Australia. Fortescue has targeted achieving zero emissions across Scope 1 and 2 iron ore operations in Australia by 2030.