On September 13, the 19th Yulin International Coal and High-end Energy Chemical Industry Expo grandly opened at Yulin Convention & Exhibition Center in Shaanxi Province. As the largest and highest-profile energy industry event in Northwest China, the three-day expo brought together nearly a thousand companies, including representatives from major energy groups such as the CHN ENERGY, Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group Co., Ltd., China Coal, China Huaneng, and China Datang.
Concurrently with the expo, the First Unmanned Mining Truck Engineering Application Conference 2025, organized by the Low-Speed Automated Driving Industry Alliance (LSAD) and Shixin International Exhibition Group, and co-organized by Shaanxi Shixin Trump Energy Consulting Co., Ltd., New Strategy Low-Speed Automated Driving All Media, and New Strategy Low-Speed Automated Driving Industry Research Institute, was held successfully!
This conference, themed “Exploitation of Heavenly Treasures, Innovation of Mining Trucks,” attracted over 300 industry representatives from across the entire industry chain, including domestic mining groups, energy groups, autonomous driving solution providers, intelligent mining equipment manufacturers, and research institutions. They engaged in in-depth discussions and resource matching around the large-scale application of unmanned mining vehicles in real-world mining environments.
Globally, autonomous mining technology originated in the United States, dating back to the 1980s. China began focusing on and promoting mining automation technology in the 1990s. Over the past 40 years, the industry has undergone a dramatic transformation from “human control” to “machine control” and “numerical control,” and finally to “intelligent control.” It was during the “intelligent control” phase that unmanned mining technology truly gained widespread attention and rapid development.
China’s development in the field of driverless mining has leapt from “acquisition” to “galloping,” leading the world in technological innovation, business models, and large-scale application, and has also seen the emergence of a number of outstanding companies with international competitiveness. At the conference, the New Strategy Low-Speed Automated Driving Industry Research Institute provided an in-depth analysis of the mining industry landscape, and several industry experts shared cutting-edge technological achievements and practical experiences.
Keynote Speeches
New Strategy Low-Speed Automated Driving Industry Research Institute
The Mining Industry Landscape Driven by Policy, Technology, and Market
Li Jinke, Director of New Strategy Low-Speed Automated Driving Industry Research Institute
Key Insight: Mining, as a prime application scenario for automated driving technology, is rapidly expanding its adoption from single transportation links to the entire mining, loading, and unloading process, from open-pit coal mines to all types of ores and underground mines. Currently, the cumulative number of unmanned transport vehicles delivered in mining areas in China is about to exceed 5,000, a significant milestone for the entire industry. Even more explosive growth is expected in 2026. However, given the industry’s remaining technical barriers, high initial investment, and the urgent need for standardized standards and improved infrastructure, collaborative efforts across the industry ecosystem are crucial.
CiDi
Hardcore Innovation and Practice in Mixed Operations in Mines
Fang Senlin, General Manager of Smart Mine Marketing, CiDi
Key Insight: The development of unmanned mining trucks experiences three stages: technical verification, breakthroughs, and maturity. The industry generally faces three major challenges: safety, efficiency, and delivery. CiDi has continuously overcome these challenges through comprehensive multi-vehicle collaborative algorithms, multiple safety redundancy designs, and tool-based, automated products. This has led to the launch of the Yuan mining autonomous driving series of products and solutions. Its greatest strength is its mixed operation technology, which eliminates the need for designated independent operating areas for unmanned vehicles within the mine, nor does it require the modification of any manned vehicles. CiDi has already delivered 56 unmanned mining trucks to customers, which operate alongside approximately 500 manned trucks, forming the world’s largest mixed operation mining fleet.
Mingshang
Exploration and Practice of Intelligent Driving and Control Technology for Construction Machinery
Jie Kaihe, Assistant to the Chairman & Deputy General Manager of Mingshang
Key Insight: Mining areas generally face challenges such as harsh working environments, high labor intensity, and difficulty recruiting and retaining workers. There is an urgent need for intelligent and unmanned operations. The integrated “chip-device-cloud” architecture is the solid foundation for intelligent operation. Leveraging over 20 years of experience in intelligent driving for commercial vehicles, Mingshang has developed a remote control solution for mining areas, from the cabin to the vehicle, and has commercialized unmanned mining trucks in multiple mining areas. Furthermore, the company’s full-stack product portfolio is widely applicable to diverse scenarios, including trunk logistics, ports, industrial parks, and tourism. The company is a trusted partner of major domestic logistics companies and leading global commercial vehicle manufacturers.
EACON
Thousands of Vehicles Launched: Sharing the Practical Application of Large-Scale Unmanned Mining Transportation
Gao Dexu, Chief Solution Expert of EACON
Key Insight: Since its establishment in 2018, EACON has continuously provided innovative technical solutions for the intelligent transformation of global mines. It has launched two core products: the unmanned driving solution “Zhuoshan 3.0” and the smart mining digitalization solution “Muye.” It has delivered over 1,900 unmanned mining trucks worldwide. Its operational projects cover coal, limestone, and metal mines, and it has independently completed projects with over 100 vehicles at five individual mines. With the advent of large-scale commercialization, mature, standardized, and professional rapid delivery capabilities have become key to business development. Currently, the time it takes for EACON’s unmanned mining trucks to be fully operational and operational has been reduced to 7-14 days, far below the industry average.
Simba
Application of Multi-Technology Integrated 5G Remote Control Technology in Mining
Shen Di, Director of Simba Innovation Center
Key Insight: Simba, funded by Chery Group and China Unicom, focuses on connected vehicles and service operations, continuously strengthening its independent product and service capabilities. The company’s multi-technology integrated 5G remote control products offer ultra-low latency, low occupancy, and robustness against weak networks. Core technologies such as AI frame prediction, vehicle-side prediction delay compensation, UI visual interaction, and visual enhancement enable remote driving to see farther, more clearly, and more comprehensively. Simba believes that only stable and reliable remote control products can help achieve a 100% unmanned closed-loop autonomous driving system. Currently, its products enable safe operations in mining areas, ports, robotaxis, and unmanned sanitation.
BOONREY
Application of Electric Unmanned Driving in Open-Pit Smart Mines
Chen Xingbing, Deputy Marketing Director of BOONREY
Key Insight: In recent years, mining policies have been frequently issued, highlighting the three key themes of “unmanned,” “green,” and “intelligent.” Since entering the autonomous mining sector, Boonray has firmly embraced a pure electric approach. The company is committed to developing intelligent mining solutions that deeply integrate “vehicle + battery + scenario” autonomous driving. It is the first autonomous driving company in the industry to launch a high-capacity, integrated charging and swapping unmanned mining truck, and the first to achieve full control of loading and unloading. Boonray’s autonomous driving technology has enabled over 20 mining areas across China, with over 500 pure electric vehicles delivered, forming the largest fleet of electric unmanned mining trucks in China, with a cumulative safe mileage of over 25 million kilometers.
Beijing Linghang Zhitu Technology Company under China Railway 19th Bureau Group
Pioneering the autonomous driving frontier, embarking on a new journey with extraordinary momentum
Zhao Xin, Chief Engineer, Beijing Linghang Zhitu Technology Company under China Railway 19th Bureau Group
Key Insight: China Railway 19th Bureau, a core state-owned enterprise under China Railway Construction Corporation, operates numerous mining projects in China and in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. Amidst the wave of smart mine development, Beijing Linghang Zhitu Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Railway 19th Bureau Group, was established. It specializes in smart mine system solutions. Its unmanned mining transport robot system coordinates multiple systems and terminals, enabling full-process loading and unloading operations within the mine. Facing a market entering a new cycle, Beijing Linghang Zhitu Technology Company under China Railway 19th Bureau Group has designed a new concept wide-body unmanned vehicle. Focusing on energy conservation and low carbon emissions, user experience, safety and reliability, and intelligent connectivity, it provides technical and service support for the high-quality development of smart mines within the mine.
ROCKAI
From Unmanned Driving to Unmanned Operation and Maintenance: Exploring Unmanned Mine Transportation Solutions
Na Chongning, Co-founder & CTO of ROCKAI
Key Insight: Unmanned mining and transportation within a mine is a complex, systematic project encompassing production control, equipment management, mine safety, and equipment coordination. Comprised of a team of professionals with deep expertise in mining, vehicles, and algorithms, ROCKAI has developed a comprehensive solution that meets the requirements for full-process automation and full-scenario adaptability for unmanned mining within the mine. The company has also launched a variety of cabinless transport robots, accelerating the path toward the ultimate form of unmanned mining. The future technological direction of unmanned mine operation and maintenance is to use general AI to reconstruct product forms and business processes. In the future, ROCKAI will continue to increase research on technologies such as LLM large models, generative three-dimensional models, embodied intelligence, and end-to-end large models to accelerate AI-enabled intelligent upgrades in mines.
Note:
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For details of the report, please click https://cnmra.com/release-of-the-2024-2025-global-mobile-robot-industry-development-report/.
