Scania has opened up orders for its autonomous mining trucks in Australia.

First deliveries and start of operation are scheduled from 2026, with Latin America the likely market to follow.

Orders are now open for Scania’s 40-tonne autonomous heavy tipper for mining, with the 50-tonne model to follow shortly afterwards.

“The transition from research and development to the launch of a commercial product is a major milestone for us and for autonomous heavy transport in general,” said Peter Hafmar, vice president and head of autonomous solutions at Scania.

“This is the most advanced product Scania has put on the market so far,” he said

Mines have long been seen as one of the most promising environments for autonomous vehicles, as they can contribute to safer working conditions and more efficient operations.

Scania said its mining solutions with smaller, civil-class trucks have overall potential advantages over the industry’s traditional heavy haulage trucks, both in terms of emissions and productivity.

“By utilising Scania’s autonomous mining trucks, the overall mining footprint including energy and infrastructure requirements can be reduced, meaning that capital and operating expenses may also be reduced at suitable sites,” Hafmar said.

“Scania’s autonomous trucks can also be smoothly fitted into an existing operations set-up in a mine, thanks to their interoperability with other systems and vehicles.

“Another benefit with our solution is that it allows mining companies to more quickly take the next step towards zero-emission operations,” he said.

“It’s easier to electrify operations with Scania’s autonomous trucks compared with traditional heavy haulage trucks.”

Over the past ten years, Scania has invested heavily in the development of self-driving vehicles. Innovations include applications for hub-to-hub transport on highways as well as autonomous vehicles for confined areas such as mines.

Scania’s autonomous tipper truck has been developed in close cooperation between Scania’s R&D department and customers in the mining industry, with extensive testing in the harshest real-life conditions.

“It’s probably the most ambitious research and development project we have done so far together with a customer, and I am very pleased about the result,” said.

“Thanks to all the rigorous checks and numerous on-site tests we have been able to develop an optimal autonomous transport solution for mines.”