http://en.people.cn/n3/2025/0121/c90000-20268795.html
At the Yulong Copper Mine in Qamdo, southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, 5,000 meters above sea level on the rugged Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, ore transport trucks move by autonomous driving.
Launched on Sept. 29, 2024, the autonomous driving project is a collaborative effort between Xizang Yulong Copper Mining Co., Ltd. under the Western Mining Co., Ltd., China Railway 19th Bureau Group Co., Ltd., and Huawei. This is the world’s first unmanned transportation system in an open-pit mine with an altitude above 5,000 meters.
According to the project team, the vehicles are capable of operating on mining paths that stretch for several kilometers, with a minimum width of 20 meters and an impressive maximum road gradient of 8 percent. Designed for the challenging high-altitude environment, the trucks utilize multi-sensor fusion perception technology to maintain stable year-round operations, achieving a 5 percent reduction in failure rate and an online operation rate surpassing 99 percent.
The 90-tonne extended-range hybrid autonomous mining trucks, equipped with LiDAR, cameras, millimeter-wave radar, and integrated navigation systems, are currently deployed in mining areas with an average altitude of over 4,800 meters. By perceiving the environment in real-time and making autonomous decisions, these trucks can maintain their set speeds even at night, ensuring 24/7 uninterrupted, safe operations. This enables full automation across all stages of loading, transportation, and unloading, significantly reducing the need for two drivers per vehicle. To further ensure safe operations, the vehicles are equipped with dynamic obstacle detection, static obstacle recognition, interference-resistant capabilities, and integrated positioning technology. This enables stable nighttime operations while minimizing human involvement, thus reducing safety risks on-site.
To support the upload and download of various data, images, videos, and commands from onboard sensors and cloud systems, the copper mine installed five additional 5G base stations across the mining area, ensuring full 5G network coverage for both loading equipment and autonomous operating zones.
