How autonomy enables strategic downsizing in mining & quarrying

Autonomous solutions are changing the game in mining and quarrying, allowing for a strategic downsizing of vehicle fleets and unlocking new efficiencies across the industry. As the Head of Sales Mining and Quarrying for Volvo Autonomous Solutions, I have a front-row seat to this transformational shift.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that replacing a few large haul trucks and other heavy equipment with a greater number of smaller, autonomous vehicles can lead to more efficient operations, lower costs, and reduced environmental footprint. But how exactly does autonomy make this possible?

Autonomy: the key to downsized fleets

The ability to operate vehicles autonomously fundamentally shifts the equation, making it a viable option to choose smaller trucks and machines over larger ones.

Traditionally, operating a larger number of smaller vehicles meant increased labor costs, particularly in mining, where securing and retaining skilled drivers in challenging or remote locations is a persistent and costly issue. However, one of the most immediate and significant impacts of autonomy is the drastic reduction in the need for human operators. This directly translates into substantial labor cost savings, making downsized fleets financially feasible.

Beyond cost savings, autonomous systems also excel at optimizing fleet management and dispatching. While managing large, conventional fleets in confined areas can be a major challenge, autonomy allows us to move from a few large trucks to smaller vehicles, much like a school of fish fluidly navigating the waters. This means we can optimize routes in real-time, balance workloads and minimize idle time and bottlenecks.

This granular control truly brings downsized fleets to life. With the vast amount of data collected, we can also optimize predictive maintenance and uptime, and an increased number of trucks in the fleet makes it easier to plan for service with less disturbance to the workflow.

Another aspect is that we can improve fuel consumption by hauling less steel. By removing the variability of individual driving styles and optimize our vehicles to the task at hand, we can achieve more consistent and predictable fuel usage – to mention just a few examples of how autonomy enables us to "right-size" our equipment.

Unlocking new levels of efficiency at the mine and quarry

There are many direct and indirect benefits, and I would like to highlight a few:

• Reduced environmental impact. Smaller vehicles allow for narrower haul roads. While large trucks demand roads up to 40 meters (or even more!) in width, smaller autonomous trucks, thanks to their precise navigation, can effectively use much narrower routes. When designing a mine for smaller, autonomous vehicles, there is a possibility to think differently and make the open pit smaller in size. To me, this feels truly inspiring from an environmental perspective.
• Enhanced reliability. Consider a simple example: if you have four small trucks instead of two big ones, and one goes out of operation, you only lose 25% of your capacity, compared to 50% – significantly improving overall reliability.
• Increased flexibility. A larger fleet of smaller trucks offers greater flexibility. They’re easier to move around if you have different flows on the same site or even neighboring sites. Their smaller size makes them simpler to transport on the road or via a trailer.
• Access to more deposits. Smaller vehicles allow for more targeted extraction as ore bodies are becoming more difficult to access, and it’s often no longer just one big pile of ore. Smaller, more agile vehicles can reach and extract ore cost-efficiently from these more constrained deposits. With larger trucks, you often need to move a lot of surrounding rock to access the ore.

The path to an agile, efficient future

Ultimately, autonomy shifts our focus from maximizing the payload of individual, human-driven vehicles to optimizing the entire material flow process with a synchronized, intelligent fleet. This systemic optimization is what truly unlocks the benefits of downsizing.

We’ve already seen the tangible advantages of this approach in real-world operations. At the limestone quarry in Velfjord, Norway, our partnership with Brønnøy Kalk is a prime example. There, a fleet of seven Volvo FH Autonomous trucks demonstrates how smaller, coordinated autonomous vehicles deliver superior performance.

The "bigger is better" era is paving the way to a future where intelligence, agility, and efficiency, delivered by smaller autonomous trucks, will be the true measure of success. Working at Volvo Autonomous Solutions, I’m proud to be contributing to actively shaping this "shrinking world" – with the potential to help our customers reduce waste, minimize their footprint, and grow their productivity.