Scania opens up orders for autonomous trucks

The realisation of autonomous transport is taking a big step forward as Scania opens up the order book for the company’s self-driving mining trucks. It is now possible to place orders for Scania’s 40-tonne autonomous heavy tipper for mining, with the 50-tonne model to follow shortly afterwards.

As a first step, Scania will start sales of its autonomous mining solutions here in Australia, with first deliveries scheduled from 2026. The next market in line will most likely be Latin America, a region where Scania has a significant market presence in the mining segment.

“The transition from research and development to the launch of a commercial product is a major milestone for us and for autonomous heavy transport in general,” said Peter Hafmar, Vice President and Head of Autonomous Solutions at Scania. “This is the most advanced product Scania has put on the market so far,” he added.

Mines have long been seen as one of the most promising environments for autonomous vehicles, as they can contribute to safer working conditions and more efficient operations.

Scania has been testing the vehicles in Australia since 2018 in conjunction with Rio Tino.

At that time, Rio Tinto head of Productivity & Technical Support, Rob Atkinson, said the technology was opening up new horizons for its operations.

"We're pleased to be trialling this technology in trucks that are smaller than our traditional haul trucks," he said.

"This has the potential to give us more flexibility in the way we operate in a number of areas across Rio Tinto. We have seen automation create safer and more efficient operations in our business and this is a next step in evaluating options for delivering further improvements through the use of technology."

Scania’s mining solutions with smaller, civil-class trucks also have overall potential advantages over the industry’s traditional heavy haulage trucks, both in terms of emissions and productivity.

Scania says that by using autonomous mining trucks, the overall mining footprint including energy and infrastructure requirements can be reduced, meaning that capital and operating expenses may also be reduced at suitable sites.

Scania’s autonomous trucks can also be smoothly fitted into an existing operations set-up in a mine, thanks to their interoperability with other systems and vehicles.

“Another benefit with our solution is that it allows mining companies to more quickly take the next step towards zero-emission operations. It’s easier to electrify operations with Scania’s autonomous trucks compared with traditional heavy haulage trucks,” says Hafmar.

Over the past ten years, Scania has invested heavily in the development of self-driving vehicles. Innovations include applications for hub-to-hub transport on highways as well as autonomous vehicles for confined areas such as mines.

Scania’s autonomous tipper truck has been developed in close co-operation between Scania’s R&D department and customers in the mining industry, like Riio Tinto, with extensive testing in the harshest real-life conditions.

“It’s probably the most ambitious research and development project we have done so far together with a customer, and I am very pleased about the result,” said Hafmar.

“Thanks to all the rigorous checks and numerous on-site tests we have been able to develop an optimal autonomous transport solution for mines,” he concluded.