China’s Huaneng Group has deployed more than 100 autonomous electric mining trucks at the Yimin open-pit coal mine in Inner Mongolia, marking what it describes as the world’s largest unmanned electric truck fleet.
The launch, carried out in partnership with tech giant Huawei, signals a growing integration of artificial intelligence and 5G-Advanced (5G-A) connectivity into traditional industrial operations.
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The vehicles are powered by Huawei’s Commercial Vehicle Autonomous Driving Cloud Service (CVADCS), which leverages high-speed, low-latency 5G-A networks to enable real-time coordination between trucks, cloud services, and control centers. Huawei said the project is a “world’s first” of its kind, improving safety conditions and advancing operational efficiency.
“The new system has improved operator safety at Yimin while setting new benchmarks for AI and autonomous mining,” Huawei stated in a press release.
Developed by Huaneng Ruichi, the all-electric autonomous trucks feature a cabin-less design with a payload capacity of 90 metric tons. The company says the vehicles are capable of continuous operation in temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees and deliver 20% more efficiency compared to traditional manned vehicles.
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While Huawei has not disclosed detailed technical specifications, similar models on the market typically feature lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery packs ranging from 350 to 422 kWh and electric motors generating up to 565 horsepower and 2,300 Nm of torque.
The deployment at Yimin represents the first phase of a broader plan to scale the fleet to 300 vehicles by 2028. Huawei executives indicated that the technology may be expanded to other global mining markets, including Africa and Latin America.
