MACA and Position Partners have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SafeAI to automate a mixed fleet of 100 mining trucks.
The companies will create one of the largest autonomous heavy equipment fleets in Australia, powering safer, more productive and more cost-effective mine sites.
SafeAI is a global autonomous heavy equipment company focussed on retrofitting heavy equipment for autonomous applications in mining and construction.
SafeAI has built a next generation autonomous platform that brings the latest in artificial intelligence (AI) to heavy industry.
“With SafeAI’s scalable, AI-powered technology, we can quickly deploy autonomous heavy equipment across our sites—creating safer, more productive operations and setting a new standard for our industry,” MACA chief executive officer Mike Sutton said.
“We look forward to delivering the safety, sustainability and productivity gains to our clients and upskilling our dedicated workforce along the way.”
The company’s platform is interoperable and vehicle-agnostic, enabling mining and construction companies to retrofit any vehicle, from any manufacturer, with autonomous technology.
With advanced multimodal sensors and significant onboard processing power, SafeAI-enabled equipment can independently make efficient, accurate decisions to keep operations running smoothly and safely, 24-7.
“This technology is a game changer for our business, our customers and our industry,” MACA general manager of estimating and technical services Shane Clark said.
“SafeAI’s versatile, scalable solution is unmatched in our industry right now, and has profound implications for site safety, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. We expect to see quick takeup from our customers as they begin to see the tremendous impact of this technology.”
The MoU marks a significant milestone in the development and deployment of contractor autonomy and on MACA’s pursuit of this technology.
“Position Partners has worked with MACA over several years to deploy and support a range of technology solutions, from high precision systems to fleet management,” Position Partners chief executive officer Martin Nix said.
“Following a successful proof of concept project with SafeAI’s leading retrofit autonomy solution in Karlawinda, WA, this agreement represents a significant next step in our partnership that will see us scale up MACA’s autonomy fleet over the coming years.”
Through this partnership, SafeAI and Position Partners will work with MACA to retrofit its large, mixed fleet of haul trucks with autonomous hardware and software.
MACA will be the first contract miner to deploy AI-powered autonomy for its customers, establishing safer, more productive and more cost-effective operations.
“The mining industry is at the forefront of deploying autonomous and connected technologies,” SafeAI founder and chief executive officer Bibhrajit Halder said.
“SafeAI, in partnership with MACA, improves on existing autonomous technology, while at the same time making these solutions more accessible to mid-tier miners and their contractors.”