Dongfeng Truck’s underground self-driving mining truck starts pilot operation

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Dongfeng Motor announced on December 21 that its first self-driving truck dedicated for underground mining was recently put into trial operation in Hubei Province, signifying the underground unmanned mining operation has entered into a new phase.

Photo credit: Dongfeng Trucks

The said self-driving mining truck was jointly developed by Dongfeng Trucks, Hubei Sanning Mining Co. LTD., and Wuhan University of Technology. The pilot operation of the autonomous truck marked Dongfeng Trucks scientific and technological achievements in the “last-mile” autonomous driving field under mining scenarios.

According to Dongfeng Trucks, it reached cooperation intention with Sanning Mining in 2020, and officially inked the deal in 2021, while kicking off academic cooperation with Wuhan University of Technology. Under the three parties’ joint efforts, substantial progress has been made in the independent R&D of underground driverless vehicles. The trio solved the challenges of mining working safety, occupational health and safety, transportation efficiency, and operating costs, creating a green and smart mining environment. 

The project’s team has sorted out the operation scenario and operation process, completed the design of autonomous mining trucks, the formulation of control strategy, and the deployment of a vehicle dispatching platform. Currently, the autonomous truck solution can replace manual operation throughout the entire mining process, performing tasks such as loading and unloading, transportation, car passing, right angle turning, etc.