Pronto and Hitachi Construction Machinery have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership aimed at advancing open mine automation solutions. Through this partnership, the two companies aim to deliver automation solutions that provide customers with a broader range of options to address challenges such as improving mining operations and adapting to changing business environments.
Mining companies are increasingly seeking practical and scalable solutions that help improve productivity and safety while also addressing labour shortages. In particular, they are looking for open automation solutions that can be flexibly deployed according to the operating conditions of each mine, while making use of existing equipment and technologies from different manufacturers and avoiding excessive dependence on a single technology platform or vendor ecosystem.
Hitachi Construction Machinery and Pronto share the view that meeting these expectations requires an open ecosystem that brings together expertise in mining operations, mining equipment, digital technologies, and automation technologies, enabling solutions to be flexibly adapted to the specific needs of each mine.
The partnership will combine the strengths of both companies. Pronto is a global leader in OEM-agnostic Autonomous Haulage Systems (AHS). It offers a tiered AHS portfolio which it can retrofit onto existing haul trucks from any manufacturer and scales from regional quarries to ultra-class, deep-pit operations.
Pronto says its systems have autonomously hauled millions of tonnes in commercial mixed-fleet operations, with production deployments spanning three continents. The company’s mission is to make autonomous haulage practical, affordable, and available to every mining operation worldwide.
Hitachi Construction Machinery has long supported mining operations around the world through the provision of mining equipment and brings deep expertise in mining operations, together with a global customer base. Looking ahead to its planned transition to the LANDCROS brand in April 2027, Hitachi Construction Machinery is promoting co-creation by openly connecting products, technologies, and partners to deliver new value to customers.
By combining their expertise in mining operations, mining equipment, and automation technologies, the two companies aim to create new value for mining customers.
Anthony Levandowski, Pronto Chief Executive Officer: “Mine operators have been clear: they want automation that works with the fleets they already own, not another closed, single-vendor ecosystem. Pronto has proven OEM-agnostic autonomous haulage at commercial scale, and Hitachi Construction Machinery brings decades of mining equipment leadership, a global customer base, and an open autonomy vision that we share. Together, we can give every mining operation a practical, affordable path to autonomy.”
Masafumi Senzaki, Hitachi Construction Machinery President and Executive Officer: “For decades, we have worked alongside mining customers around the world and have developed a deep understanding of their diverse needs and the challenges they face. Through our collaboration with Pronto, we will combine Hitachi Construction Machinery’s equipment expertise with advanced automation technologies to provide customers with greater flexibility and options in adopting automation solutions. This partnership represents an important step in realising the desire embodied in the ‘O’ of LANDCROS—to openly co-create new businesses and value with customers and partners across the mining industry, and to grow together.”
Christian Kurasek, Pronto CFO told IM: “Pronto is currently operating in NA, SA, and EMEA. Hitachi shares our vision of OEM-agnostic autonomy to give operators choice to choose the best trucks for their fleet while independently choosing the best AHS technology.” He added that a project to apply Pronto AHS on HCM machines is already in the works but not yet running.
Existing Pronto customers including Heidelberg Materials at quarries like Lake Bridgeport, Texas where Pronto’s system is working on a mixed fleet of Caterpillar and Komatsu haul trucks. Ultimately, over 100 trucks will be outfitted with the Pronto AHS across more than a dozen Heidelberg global sites. In Brazil, Pronto set a up a new subsidiary Prontobras, and has automated equipment there including Bell ADTs in production settings. Finally, Pronto is in the process of deploying its system at a mining site in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the deal with HCM is not exclusive – in North America it launched autonomy solutions with Komatsu North America for quarry-size trucks which integrates directly with Komatsu’s Smart Quarry fleet management suite.
HCM for its part is already experienced with autonomy on its own equipment, having developed its own AHS which it cites as having operated for over 144,000 working hours with zero safety incidents and moving more than 58 Mt of material at client sites like Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek with a fleet of 28 EH5000 trucks. It utilises utilises subsidiary company Wenco International Mining Systems’ Fleet Management System (FMS). HCM will continue to offer this OEM-led AHS for its own trucks including the new -5 models like theEH4000AC-5, supported from its Technological Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.
Wenco has also been a major AHS contributor, having led the development of ISO 23725, which defines the standard for interoperability between FMS and AHS. This standard enables multi-vendor open autonomy, allowing mining operations to seamlessly integrate equipment and software from different providers rather than being locked into a single-OEM system. Wenco also set up the openautonomy.com collaborative platform which promotes multi-vendor, interoperable autonomous mining systems. Wenco also developed its own open autonomy system that was trialled on Scania trucks at sites including Rio Tinto’s Dampier Salt and Channar iron ore mine in the Pilbara.