As autonomous haulage progresses towards more greater onboard intelligence and the ability of vehicles – particularly mining trucks – equipped with the AHS being able to ‘recognise’ obstacles and reroute themselves without disrupting production; and to efficiently operate as part of mixed autonomous and non autonomous fleets, 3D digital LiDAR is playing a critical role. But the companies that supply these sensors are not mining specific – they are supplying various markets.
In December 2025, LiDAR tech company Luminar Technologies filed for bankruptcy following rising debt and a legal battle with one of its major customers, Volvo. Luminar then sold its LiDAR business in January 2026 as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in an auction to another company – Redmond, Washington-headquartered MicroVision – for US$33 million. This included patents and inventory related to the Iris and Halo sensors, as well as some key engineering staff and contracts.
Caterpillar had signed a deal with Luminar in March 2025, with a view to the Luminar LiDAR technology being introduced with Cat Command for hauling, initially targeted for quarry and aggregate operations. The Cat off-highway truck was to feature two Iris LiDAR with a unique integration system designed exclusively for Caterpillar.
On June 10, 2026 MicroVision announced the signing of a Master Development Agreement (MDA), including an initial Program Description dated June 1, 2026, to collaborate with “the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment” on the development and integration of MicroVision’s LiDAR and perception technologies into the OEM’s next-generation autonomous solutions. While this is clearly Caterpillar, the company was not named in the release.
The agreement establishes a framework to “jointly develop, validate, and commercialise advanced perception capabilities designed to enhance the safety, productivity, and efficiency of the OEM’s autonomous equipment platforms. Through this collaboration, the partners will work together to evaluate and deploy advanced LiDAR sensing technologies that provide high-resolution environmental awareness, obstacle detection, and situational intelligence in complex industrial environments.”
“Signing this MDA represents a significant milestone in MicroVision’s strategy to bring our perception technologies into large-scale industrial applications,” said Glen DeVos, Chief Executive Officer of MicroVision. “We are thrilled to partner with a global leader in autonomous mining and industrial equipment and proud to see our products help customers improve safety, increase productivity, and accelerate the adoption of autonomous solutions worldwide.”
Similarly to what was stated in the original agreement with Luminar, the “unique integrated system initially features two of MicroVision’s Iris LiDAR sensors on each off-highway truck for hauling operations, including quarry and aggregate operations, with future potential integration of MicroVision’s Halo LiDAR sensors.”
The statement added: “A key element of this partnership is the evaluation of our next-generation Halo sensor as a natural evolution of Iris, providing backward system compatibility to existing Iris customers,” continued DeVos. “We view this as a great example of developing and launching commercial opportunities with our Iris sensor with a clear pathway to integration of Halo, and clear validation of the value-enhancing asset acquisition completed in the first quarter of this year.”
The development reflects Caterpillar’s strategy of taking what it sees as the best the market can offer and then adapting it for its and mining’s needs into effectively a Caterpillar LiDAR – this is what it did with its original LiDAR supplier, Velodyne; plus the same approach was used with Seeing Machines, with whom Caterpillar has a licensing deal for the underlying technology behind the Cat Driver Safety System (DSS), its fatigue monitoring solution. Caterpillar has also been working with South African company MPI Holdings on development of a EMESRT Level 9 collision avoidance system (CAS).
The leader in LiDAR supply to large mining equipment today is San Francisco-headquartered Ouster Inc – whose latest offering is the Rev8, described as the world’s first native colour LiDAR sensor. Komatsu signed a major deal with the company in May 2025 adding Ouster as a LiDAR supplier for its suite of autonomous mining equipment offerings.
Ouster’s LiDAR is also being used on Volvo Autonomous Solutions’ new Autona / Earth autonomous haulage solution; on Sandvik’s AutoMine system, both underground and surface; Liebherr’s IoMine AHS; and Epiroc’s Deep Automation. It has also had success in China supplying its LiDAR to AHS tech providers like WAYTOUS and TAGE Idriver.