A foreign company raised money to deploy hundreds more autonomous heavy vehicles.
EACON Mining Technology secured a further US$44.5 million (A$67.7M) in finance to roll out three times more driverless trucks.
The Beijing-headquartered company revealed it recently received US$97.3M (A$148.1M) of equity financing with six months.
“In 2024 EACON expects to expand [from 304] to 1000 autonomous trucks and plans to launch a pilot project in Australia as its first step to expand its global market,” it said in a public statement.
“EACON will also provide drive-by-wire (DbW) control kits and solutions for autonomous driving systems. Currently a DbW kit for the Komatsu HD785-7 truck is under design.”
The vehicles are promised to deliver up to “30 per cent” fuel savings and an “impeccable” safety record from the past five years.
Fleets have already been delivered to four of mainland China’s top ten open-pit coal mines, travelling a combined 6.5M km in the past six consecutive years. More than 80 per cent of trucks are electric battery and hybrid powered, which is promised to accelerate “carbon peak and carbon neutrality”.
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