Robot Trains Are Slashing Mining Costs in Australia's Outback
- No. 2 miner Rio Tinto installing $940 million rail system
- Autonomous trains proving faster, more efficient: Rio exec.
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Snaking through Western Australia’s Outback, a driverless train has made the first autonomous delivery of iron ore from a Rio Tinto Group pit to a coastal port, as the No. 2 miner looks to reap the benefits from a $940 million plan deploying the world’s biggest robots.
The maiden 280-kilometer (174 mile) journey was completed Tuesday carrying a cargo of 28,000 metric tons and by the end of the year almost all of Rio’s 200 locomotives used to transport the steelmaking ingredient through the Pilbara region will travel without a driver.