In September 2022, Honghe Baili, Sinoma, Eacon, and Yutong Mining Truck reached an agreement to jointly run a ‘5G + green electricity + electric trucks + autonomous driving’ project at Fushan Quarry, with the aim for it become the first zero emission and smart mine in China. Over two months after commissioning, 20 battery electric autonomous haul trucks are operating on site, which Eacon says makes it the largest electric AHS fleet in China.

Eacon provided the overall self-driving solution from beginning to end, and provides daily haulage operating services to EPC Sinoma, a subsidiary of China National Building Material Group. 

This was Eacon’s first deployment on an aggregate mine. From early requirement study, deployment planning, infrastructure improvement, communication facilities construction, AHS commissioning, to a stable autonomous operation without safety drivers on board. Eacon says it has significantly outperformed previous industry delivery times for new truck models at a new mine.

In November 2022, the 5G network was started to be built at Fushan Quarry, owned by Honghe Baili. Eacon began commissioning its autonomous equipment in February 2023. In just two months, Eacon says it achieved ‘multi-fleet’ self-driving haulage without safety drivers on board. And it says this has also created a new fast delivery record for AHS in the country.

Fushan Quarry has complex road conditions such as steep slopes, U-turns, crossroads, and narrow two-way roads, and the AHS has to operate with various equipment such as water trucks, dozers, excavators, and light vehicles. Eacon told IM it followed international standards such as ISO17757, ISO22737, and ASPICE and ensured safety design regarding Fushan’s working conditions. Also, real-time, high-precision and full coverage perception by creatively integrating the capabilities of roadside perception, V2V, on-truck perception and cloud system, Eacon’s solution can fundamentally prevent accidents.  

This aggregate mine has a smaller loading area with boundary pushing forward fast. To make things even more complex, sometimes multiple excavators are deployed in the same loading area. And two crushers are located next to each other with relatively narrow dumping areas. Eacon’s Fleet Management System it says optimises haulage capacity by dynamically dispatching trucks to multiple loading and dumping areas, while also being able to adapt to rapid working progress while ensuring safety and efficient operations. The FMS system interfaces to ERP and MES to support the entire process from mine planning, operation to settlement. 

Today 20 battery electric autonomous trucks operate 16 hours a day with two shifts, following a typical human driven fleet shift requirement. Eacon concludes: “This is just a small step towards clean mining. Eacon will always commit to the goal of zero-carbon and smart haulage.”