It’s not just capable of driverless operation, the SANY SKT145Ei doesn’t even have a place for the driver to sit! The company’s latest all-electric heavy haul truck ditches the driver’s cab in favor of a millimeter-wave radar-guided sensor suite on a purpose-built architecture that hints at the future of zero emission mining.
Frequent Electrek readers (Electrekkies?) already know the mining industry has become a serious proving ground for autonomous EVs, with hundreds of fully self-driving trucks already deployed at working mines – and many hundreds more soon to come. The SKT145Ei takes that idea one step further, however, because instead of adapting an existing truck for autonomous operation, Chinese equipment giant SANY skipped the cab altogether, designing the vehicle around the sensors, computers, and a massive battery pack from the jump.
“Retrofitting traditional mining trucks into autonomous operation is constrained by the original architecture, making it difficult to achieve optimal placement of sensors and controllers,” explains Zhang Long from the SANY Intelligent Mining Solution team, a video posted to LinkedIn late last week. “The cabless platform is purpose-built for autonomous driving enabling more optimized layout of sensors and controllers and making inspection and maintenance easier. It has a fully driverless cabless design with reduced overall vehicle length, so it better adapts to narrow road conditions in mining areas.”
The truck, itself
With the exception of the 801 kWh battery, SANY hasn’t published a lot of specifications. That said, the company’s current 90-ton electric mining trucks produce up to 740 kW (~990 hp) of peak power and 2,300 Nm (~1,700 lb-ft) of torque, so it’s safe to assume something similar is powering the cabless SKT145Ei.
The headline features, however, are all about safety and autonomy. “Mining never stops for tough terrain, for darkness, or for the challenges ahead,” adds Long. “That’s why the SKT145Ei was engineered with an 801 kWh mining-grade battery, triple-redundant braking and multi-sensor fusion perception. This model is equipped with LiDAR, mm-wave radar, and vision cameras. Multi sensor fusion technology is designed to handle harsh mining conditions such as rain, fog, and heavy dust, ensuring high vehicle availability.”
You can watch the full video – which includes the interviews referenced above and a walkthrough of the truck’s remote operating tech – from SANY’s corporate LinkedIn page, below, then let us know what you think of the company’s commitment to full autonomous operations in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
SOURCE | IMAGES: SANY, via International Mining; LinkedIn.
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