The mining company Rio Tinto has been running robotic trucks for over ten years. Seventy-six of their 400 mining trucks are robotic.
The robotic self driving trucks are 15% cheaper to run.
Robotic drilling can run for almost a third longer on average than with manned rigs, and to churn through 10% more meters per hour.
In 2018, Rio hopes to win regulatory approval to run the world’s first driverless trains along 1,700km of track between its 16 iron-ore mines and four ports in the Pilbara. It completed a 100km test run in September. The autonomy can provide a 6% improvement in average speed, and the elimination of three driver-changes in each 40-hour period.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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