Caterpillar claims 'world’s largest' number of autonomous trucks

Industrial vehicles manufacturer Caterpillar claims it now has the largest number of autonomous trucks in operation in the world.

The company calls it “a significant milestone”, adding that it has “long been recognised as the industry leader” in autonomous vehicle implementation.

Caterpillar says the achievement is exciting not only for the mining industry, but also its customer base as it looks to expand its autonomous technology offerings into quarry and aggregates and construction industries’ product lines with competitive offerings.

Caterpillar has been investing in autonomous development for decades. From 1994 to 1995, Caterpillar ran the first two prototype Cat 777C autonomous mining trucks at a Texas limestone quarry, where they successfully hauled more than 5000 production loads over a 4.2 km course. Then in 1996, MINExpo guests witnessed a live autonomy demonstration via satellite from Tinaja Hills Demonstration and Learning Center.

Today Caterpillar claims the world’s largest autonomous fleet of haul trucks, now numbering more than 500 machines.

Caterpillar says its engineering teams look to the future when developing onboard technology, and it partners with its customers to ensure its products and services are tailored to achieve its customers’ specific business goals and meet the industry’s most pressing needs.

“Congratulations to the Caterpillar team and our customers on reaching this impressive milestone,” said Denise Johnson, President of Caterpillar’s resource industries group. “Having 500 driverless trucks in operation across the globe is tangible evidence of our ability to innovate and a clear indication of Caterpillar’s commitment to the future of mining.”

Johnson adds that Caterpillar has autonomous mine sites operating 24/7 on three continents.

The company says that by the end of 2021, customers using Cat Command technology had hauled more than 4 billion tonnes and travelled over 145 million km autonomously.

Caterpillar says customers across multiple industries are interested in autonomy, partly because driverless trucks are “safer and have up to 30% improved performance over those with operators”.

Among those companies using Caterpillar mining haul trucks in Australia are BHP and Newmont Corporation.