Mining involves moving enormous quantities of rock and ore across large, hazardous sites. Huge autonomous haul trucks, operating within a fenced and mapped area, now carry these loads without a driver in the cab, running around the clock along planned routes.
Removing people from monotonous, dangerous driving improves safety and lets operations run continuously and consistently. The controlled private setting, with no public traffic, makes autonomy more manageable than on open roads. The trucks are supervised remotely and coordinated carefully, and they represent one of the clearest places where self-driving technology already does real work.