“One of the primary advantages of autonomous haulage,” says Cavassa, “is removing people from harm’s way.” With AI, sensor and vision technologies at the helm, the idiosyncrasies, and risks, of human drivers are removed.

Efficiency

When you don’t need drivers, resource costs naturally decrease. So do fuel and maintenance costs. The knowledge on how to operate the trucks in the safest, most predictable way is embedded into the system. “Because of that,” Brown says, “maintenance costs go down significantly.”

Productivity

Predictability also results in productivity. If an operation is predictable, optimization is system wide — when you optimize one truck’s performance, you’re optimizing all trucks. “The whole system benefits at the same time,” Brown notes. He estimates that, once an operation understands how to use the system, you can drive productivity between 10% and 20%.

SMS Equipment works with you from “tip to tail,” from assessing your operation to guiding you through regulatory approvals to embedding experts once trucks are deployed. Autonomous haulage “could be the biggest business transformation that you’ve actually gone through,” says Brown. Our team helps you ensure that transformation is successful.

 

Find out more about AHS at SMS Equipment