By 2025, my country's unmanned mining technology had entered a stage of large-scale benefit realization.
By the end of 2025, the number of unmanned mining trucks in operation in China had exceeded 4,000, a significant increase from 2,500 at the end of 2024.
In the future, with the accelerated digital transformation of open-pit coal mines, the demand for unmanned mining trucks will be further released, and an explosive growth is expected in 2026, with the scale potentially reaching 10,000 units.
Breaking Through to Large Scale: A Five-Year Leap from Pilot Verification to Nationwide Deployment
China's unmanned transportation sector in open-pit mines has entered a period of rapid development. From small-scale pilot projects in 2020 as an emerging technology, by the end of 2025, unmanned mining trucks have covered more than 20 provinces and regions, with the number of unmanned mining trucks in operation nationwide historically exceeding 4,000 units, completing a crucial leap from "proof of concept" to "large-scale application."
This explosive growth has been particularly significant in the last two years. Data shows that the number of vehicles actually in operation reached 1,891 in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 125%; in 2025, this number more than doubled, reaching a new milestone of 4,000 vehicles.
More significantly, nine open-pit coal mines nationwide now have more than 100 unmanned mining trucks. Among them, at the Baishihu and Malang open-pit coal mines of Xinjiang Guanghui Mining, over 500 unmanned mining trucks are operating simultaneously, setting a new global record for the scale of unmanned vehicles in a single mine.
Market Structure: Dual Concentration of Resource Distribution and Industrial Competition
Currently, the application of unmanned mining trucks in China exhibits a highly concentrated characteristic.
From the perspective of mine type, coal mines are the absolute main force. The number of unmanned coal mines accounts for 66.9% of all mines, and the number of vehicles operating in coal mines also accounts for as high as 87.7%. This reflects that the deployment scale of single coal mines is far greater than that of other types of mines, demonstrating the most obvious characteristic of large-scale application.
In addition, limestone mines and metal mines account for 18.3% and 11.3% of the total number of mines, respectively; and 7.7% and 3.9% of the number of operating vehicles, respectively, playing a supporting role.
Regionally, the market is mainly concentrated in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, two major energy provinces, which together account for the majority of the national market. Specifically:
Xinjiang has over 50% of unmanned mining trucks, with over 100 units in mines including Guanghui Mining's Baishihu Open-Pit Coal Mine, Guanghui Mining's Malang No. 1 Open-Pit Coal Mine, Xinjiang Tianchi Energy's Jiangjun Gobi No. 1 Open-Pit Coal Mine, Xinjiang Yihua Wucaiwan Mining Area No. 1 Open-Pit Coal Mine, and Xinjiang Energy Group's Shitoumei No. 1 Open-Pit Coal Mine.
Inner Mongolia has over 20% of unmanned mining trucks, with over 100 units in mines including State Power Investment Corporation Inner Mongolia Company's Zahanuoer Open-Pit Coal Mine, State Power Investment Corporation Inner Mongolia Company's Baiyinhua No. 3 Open-Pit Coal Mine, and Huaneng Yimin Open-Pit Coal Mine.
It is worth noting that the demand for unmanned driving technology is increasingly strong in high-altitude regions such as Tibet. The harsh environment of high-altitude mining areas presents health and safety challenges for manual driving, providing a unique application scenario for autonomous driving technology.
From a market competition perspective, the current market has formed a "one dominant player and many strong players" structure, with a significant head effect. Currently, there are approximately 70 companies manufacturing autonomous vehicles/providing overall solutions for mining areas, including about 40 autonomous driving technology companies, over 20 traditional automakers/mining companies transitioning into the market, and some companies with relevant technical capabilities entering from other fields such as unmanned sanitation, unmanned ports, and industrial logistics.
The industry leader, EasyDrive, leverages its first-mover advantage and large-scale operational experience to achieve a market share of nearly 50%, deploying over 2,300 vehicles in more than 20 open-pit mines both domestically and internationally. Of the nine single-mine projects involving hundreds of vehicles, EasyDrive participated in eight and independently completed six, with the largest single-mine deployment exceeding 500 vehicles.
Meanwhile, companies such as Beray Technology, Xidi Intelligent Driving, and TAGE Intelligent Mobility have also developed differentiated competitive advantages in specific technology routes or regional markets, jointly promoting the prosperity of the industry ecosystem.
Technological Breakthroughs: Diversified Achievements in Power Technology and Scenarios
Faced with the complex and diverse working conditions in mining areas, the current Chinese unmanned mining truck market has formed a diversified development pattern: "fuel-powered range-extended trucks maintain the basic market, while pure electric technology seeks the future."
Currently, fuel-powered range-extended wide-body trucks dominate with a 51.1% market share. Their long range and low dependence on infrastructure perfectly match the objective conditions of my country's large open-pit mines, which are often located in remote areas and cover vast areas, making them the most reliable choice for large-scale promotion at this stage.
Meanwhile, new energy technologies, represented by pure electric wide-body trucks, are rapidly rising with a 26.7% share. Their core driving force lies in their high alignment with the two strategic goals of "green transformation" and "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" in mining areas. Zero emissions comply with environmental protection policies, while significantly reduced energy and maintenance costs directly improve the economic benefits of mines, and their market share is expected to continue to expand.
More importantly, domestic companies have successfully overcome the challenges of adaptability to extreme environments. Currently, unmanned mining trucks are operating continuously and stably in extremely cold environments, such as at altitudes of 5,500 meters and temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius, successfully overcoming global technical challenges such as battery insulation and sensor antifreeze.
Simultaneously, the industry is actively exploring the synergistic use of wind and solar power in mining areas to build a closed-loop system for the entire "green mining" process.
In addition, the integration of technologies such as 5G communication, BeiDou positioning, artificial intelligence, and the Industrial Internet has created an integrated "vehicle, energy, road, and cloud" unmanned transportation system for mines, which has become the industry's new generation of technological standard. For example, Huawei, XCMG, State Grid, and Huaneng jointly released the "Huaneng Ruichi" unmanned electric mining truck, constructing an integrated "vehicle-network-cloud" system centered on vehicle-side intelligent control, cloud-based collaborative scheduling, and dynamic map updates.
Future Challenges: Continuous Growth and High-Quality Development in Parallel
Looking ahead, the industry still faces multiple challenges in terms of technology, cost, and ecosystem as it moves towards a scale of tens of thousands of units.
First, the reliability of the technology still faces challenges in complex scenarios. Extreme weather conditions such as heavy dust and torrential rain interfere with sensor capabilities, and the collaborative complexity of mixed operations involving both manned and unmanned vehicles still needs optimization. Furthermore, retrofitting solutions for existing, older equipment still lag behind original equipment systems in terms of stability and cost-effectiveness.
Secondly, lifecycle economics is crucial for large-scale deployment. While pure electric mining trucks have low operating costs, their high initial battery purchase costs, limited battery life, and uncertain residual value management remain key variables influencing investment decisions.
Finally, the maturity of the industry ecosystem needs improvement. The "data silos" phenomenon between different manufacturers' equipment and systems restricts the overall intelligence level of mines; there is a severe shortage of personnel with combined mining knowledge and autonomous driving technology; and insurance products and legal liability frameworks for large-scale unmanned operations need further improvement.
In summary, 2025 is a pivotal year for the large-scale application of autonomous driving. With the large-scale application of autonomous driving, the industry has moved beyond the technology verification phase and entered a new stage of rapid development characterized by large-scale application, business closed loops, and industrial collaboration.
In the short term, the market will move towards a fleet size of tens of thousands of units, expanding from unmanned transportation to fully unmanned operations throughout the entire process, including drilling, shoveling, and pushing. In the medium to long term, with the deep integration of technologies such as AI big data models, vehicle-energy-road-cloud integration, and hydrogen energy, mining transportation will evolve towards its ultimate form of zero-carbon and robotic operation.
