Oil sands mining giant Suncor says it is continuing to drive innovation in the Canadian energy industry. The company said recently it has now successfully deployed the world’s largest autonomous ultra-class haul truck fleet at a single mining site.
All ore at Suncor’s Base Plant near Fort McMurray, Alberta, is now moved by these autonomous haulers – the bitumen is loaded by shovels onto the trucks and transported to extraction plants entirely via driverless AHS-equipped trucks which are primarily 400 ton class Komatsu 980E diesel-electric drive models.
“We’re constantly looking for ways to push the boundaries of innovation within our industry,” says Suncor’s President and CEO Rich Kruger. “We have rolled out this technology in such a big way because – quite simply – it makes us a better operator. AHS not only increases safety and reliability but improves the overall efficiency of our production.”
Suncor says it has been using autonomous haul trucks (AHTs) at its Base Plant site for operations since 2018, but the number of autonomous haulers has grown exponentially over the last year.
Base Plant’s Millennium Mine rolled out 15 AHTs in May 2024, growing the fleet to 91 by the end of the year. Ongoing improvements, which increased truck performance on various pit and road configurations and in all seasons, allowed for a continued deployment throughout 2025. In total, Base Plant now has almost 120 AHTs across its two integrated mines.
“Suncor was an early adopter of AHS technology in oil sands mining, and others continue to follow our lead,” says Suncor’s Executive Vice President – Oilsands, Peter Zebedee. “This is all about consistency. Having a large AHS fleet positions our mine to deliver safe and steady production, further cementing Suncor’s position as a world-class mining operation.”
The company outlines that instead of drivers physically steering the trucks, AHS software places the control in the hands of central control room operators who optimise how the trucks perform across the mine system. With a state-of-the-art AHS command centre and features that enhance situational awareness, including collision and obstacle detection, AHS enables safe, seamless and predictable deliveries while reducing incidents, injuries, and disruptions to production.
“We have full visibility on all AHTs and autonomous-enabled support equipment on site, showing real-time location and movement of the operations,” says Zebedee. “This allows operators to manage traffic flow proactively, adapt to driving conditions and reduce wear and tear on the equipment – ultimately leading to lower maintenance costs and downtime for our trucks.”
Suncor says integrating AHS throughout Base Plant was a significant undertaking and was achieved with hard work and commitment from teams across the company.
“From our deployment teams to our field operators and dispatchers, the entire mining organisation had a significant part in driving our success,” says Kruger. “This is yet another example of the Suncor team’s commitment to driving operational excellence.”
Suncor’s Base Plant will have equipped 140 AHTs by the end of this year and the company isn’t done. Given the success at Base Plant, Suncor continues to build autonomous technology into its future mining strategy, with plans to continue its incorporation at other Suncor mines in the coming years.