Making Standards for Smart Mining Operations: Intelligent Vehicles for Autonomous Mining Transportation

Abstract

In face of the safety risk and ageing workforce in traditional mining industry, smart mining is becoming the new trend, especially the autonomous mining, which could completely address the safety issue while boosting efficiency. However, the lack of specific standards for the smart mining has led to the various types of equipment and high development costs. Therefore, we present the effort by Chinese mining research organizations and industrial enterprises in creating standards for automation and autonomy. Besides, we introduce a few key intelligent technologies for the autonomous mining transportation, and several current applications of autonomous trucks in mines around the world. These key intelligent technologies are likely to be further improved with following standards and become more affordable for mines.