Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue) has successfully deployed autonomous light vehicles (ALV’s) at its mining operations in the Chichester Hub.
The company, with the assistance of Ford Australia, retrofitted four Ford Rangers with an on-board vehicle automation system to support the driverless equipment transfer service, which will improve efficiency and safety by enabling team members to spend more time on maintaining assets.
The system features an integrated Lidar/Radar perception system that facilitates obstacle detection and dynamic obstacle avoidance, a comprehensive independent safety management and fail safe braking system and extensive built-in system monitoring and fault response capability.
Fortescue CEO Elizabeth Gaines said the AVL’s will improve the efficiency of the Christmas Creek mobile maintenance team, removing the need for fitters to make around 12,000 28-kilometre round trips annually to collect equipment and parts.
She said the project will provide the opportunity to implement a similar system at other operational sites to improve safety, productivity and efficiency.
“Since the outset, Fortescue has been at the forefront of innovation in the mining industry, underpinned by our value of generating ideas. It is this focus on technology and innovation that has driven our industry leading operational performance and cost position,” Ms Gaines continued.
“The autonomous light vehicle project is a significant advancement of our in-house automation capability, building on our leading autonomous haulage system (AHS) program which has already delivered significant productivity and efficiency improvements for the business.
“With the flexibility to introduce similar systems into other mobile assets, this project is fundamental to our future mobile equipment automation projects.”
Ford Australia President and CEO Andrew Birkic said the company was proud that its award-winning Ford Rangers had been used as part of the Fortescue Metals Group autonomous light vehicle project.
“Ford globally is at the forefront of research into autonomous vehicles, and working with companies like Fortescue is critical to gaining an insight into specific user applications,” Mr Birkic concluded.
