Australian
mining giant
Rio Tinto has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan-based industrial machinery and
mining equipment manufacturer Komatsu Limited for the supply and purchase of driverless trucks. Accordingly,
Rio Tinto will become the owner of the world's largest fleet of driverless trucks, buying at least 150 driverless trucks from Komatsu in the next four years.
The new trucks, which will start arriving in 2012, will be used in
Rio Tinto's Pilbara iron ore mines in Western
Australia and can be controlled from its operations centre located more than 1500 km away, in Perth.
According to
Rio Tinto's statement, this move marks the latest development in
Rio Tinto's Mine of the Future program, which introduces next-generation technologies for
mining operations to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve health, safety and environmental performance.