Roy Hill iron ore mine converts its whole mixed-brand haul fleet to driverless trucks, Epiroc says

From the archive. First announced by Epiroc, October 2025. Where it stands now: Scaled up, as of September 2026, WAtoday, Sept. 3, 2026. Why I saved this: Converting 78 haul trucks from two manufacturers to one brand-agnostic autonomy system is a big bet on mixed fleets. The project also ran years behind its first timeline, which is its own lesson.

October 2025 — An iron ore mine in Western Australia says it has finished converting all of its haul trucks, from two manufacturers, to driverless operation. Here's what the companies say, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of Oct. 24, 2025)

Fleet: all 78 trucks converted, 60 allocated to autonomous operation; final fleet 54 Caterpillar 793F and 24 Hitachi EH5000, according to Epiroc. (Epiroc)
Order: about 70 million Australian dollars (MSEK 500) booked in early 2023, covering "a portion" of the trucks. (Epiroc)
Revenue: about MSEK 300 recognized by Epiroc in Q3 2025. (Epiroc)
Total cost: not disclosed.

What Epiroc announced

On Oct. 24, Epiroc said it had converted all 78 haul trucks at Roy Hill using LinkOA, with 60 of them allocated to autonomous operation, which it describes as working "regardless of manufacturer." The trucks are run from a remote operations center "some 1 100 km away in Perth." Epiroc said more than 250 million tonnes had been moved autonomously and the trucks had "safely travelled around 6 million kilometers." It said the final phase, bringing all trucks and ancillary vehicles online, was "on track for completion by December 2025."

"Interoperability opens productivity and safety benefits to many more," said Gerhard Veldsman, chief executive of Hancock Iron Ore, which formed in 2025 when Atlas Iron and Roy Hill combined. Veldsman credited executive chairman Gina Rinehart and executive director Tad Watroba with selecting Epiroc. Epiroc chief executive Helena Hedblom called it "a major step forward for autonomous mining globally."

Epiroc said connectivity was built with support from Radlink, which it fully acquired in 2025, and that Hancock Iron Ore gave it a 2025 Innovation Award in August. It expects "annual and recurring revenues from the project" and said its "order book has been opened for more miners."

How it got here

In February 2020, Epiroc and ASI Mining signed to automate Roy Hill's trucks, with testing of up to eight trucks before "full fleet expansion from mid-2021." "Care is one of our core values, with safety at the heart of everything we do," said Roy Hill's then-CEO, Barry Fitzgerald. iTnews reported the fleet then as 77 trucks and said Roy Hill, majority-owned by Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting, was joining Rio Tinto and BHP in automating haulage. ASI chief executive Mel Torrie said the company looked forward "to highlighting the opportunities presented by an interoperable approach to autonomous mining."

In January 2023, Epiroc said 10 trucks were running on ASI's Mobius system, "achieving higher productivity rates than the conventional haul truck fleet." The fleet would "comprise 54 Caterpillar trucks and 42 Hitachi trucks" plus more than 200 ancillary vehicles. In March 2023, Epiroc said the project was "expected to run until 2024."

The workforce

Roy Hill said in 2020 that it had "re-skilling and re-deployment plans" for drivers, ASI Mining reported. "Our focus is on setting people up to succeed," Fitzgerald said then. No release we read said how many drivers moved roles.

What went wrong

Timeline slips. Full-fleet work was due from mid-2021, then to run until 2024; completion was then set for December 2025.
Fleet count changes. 77, then 96, then 78 trucks, with 18 fewer Hitachi trucks than planned in 2023. No release explains why.
Vendor-only figures. Tonnage, distance and safety claims come from Epiroc, the supplier.
Platform renamed. Mobius became LinkOA without explanation in the releases.
What we don't know yet: independent productivity and safety data, the total contract value, and how many drivers were redeployed.

Our follow-up question for Hancock Iron Ore

Why did the planned fleet shrink from 96 trucks to 78, and can you share productivity data beyond Epiroc's figures?

Later developments (added Oct. 2026)

On Jan. 19, 2026, Epiroc said the conversion of 78 trucks was complete, with more than 300 million tonnes moved, over 1.2 million haul cycles and more than 7 million km traveled autonomously. (Epiroc)
Epiroc's Q4 2025 presentation said all 78 trucks and around 250 ancillary vehicles were running 24/7. (Epiroc)

Sources

Epiroc, “Epiroc and Hancock Iron Ore reach milestone as Roy Hill becomes world's largest fully agnostic autonomous mine,” Oct. 24, 2025. epirocgroup.com
Epiroc, “Epiroc wins its largest-ever automation order to work with Roy Hill to create world's largest single autonomous mine,” March 14, 2023. epirocgroup.com
Epiroc, “Epiroc to support Roy Hill as it enters final stage of project to create world's largest autonomous mine,” Jan. 12, 2023. epirocgroup.com
Epiroc, “Epiroc and ASI Mining agree with Australia's Roy Hill to automate its mining haul truck fleet,” Feb. 12, 2020. epirocgroup.com
iTnews, Ry Crozier, “Roy Hill to retrofit 77 haul trucks for autonomous operation,” Feb. 13, 2020. itnews.com.au
ASI Mining, “Roy Hill plots new path for end-to-end automation,” Feb. 14, 2020. asirobots.com
Epiroc US, “LinkOA delivers at scale - 300 million tonnes moved autonomously,” Jan. 19, 2026. epiroc.com
Epiroc, Q4 2025 presentation. epirocgroup.com
WAtoday, “As it happened: More jobs go as Roy Hill fleet now 'fully autonomous'” (WA news live blog), Sept. 3, 2026. watoday.com.au

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