Autonomous vehicles: How mines control driverless trucks

Automation provides a “step change” in terms of safety in the mining industry, says Robin Burgess-Limerick, a professor at the University of Queensland in Brisbane who studies human factors in mining. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.

Professor Burgess-Limerick analyzed incidents involving autonomous equipment reported to regulators.

In his opinion, the interfaces used by employees both in the field and in control centers to obtain information are not optimally designed. There have been situations where field personnel have lost understanding of the situation, which could have been avoided with better screen design. “Technology developers need to put a little more effort into taking people into account,” he says.

In addition, there is a risk that the supervisors’ workload may be overwhelming – it is a stressful, high-stakes job.

Overconfidence, where people are so confident that autonomous equipment will stop that they start putting themselves at risk, can also be a problem, and he notes that efforts need to be directed toward improving the ability of the trucks themselves to detect moisture. There were cases when they lost traction on wet roads.

According to Shane Roulstone, co-ordinator of the Western Mineworkers’ Alliance, which represents mining workers in the Pilbara, there could be legitimate safety concerns with the use of autonomous equipment.

He points to a serious incident in May this year when an autonomous train crashed into the rear of a broken down train that workers on the front were repairing (they evacuated before it hit but were left shaken).

But Mr Roulston also praises Rio overall for having developed “some good strategies, procedures and policies” over time regarding how people interact with automated vehicles.

Mr Roulston expects that at some point there will be less room for redeployment and jobs will be lost. “It’s just math,” he says.