Bell launches world’s most affordable autonomous articulated dump truck

Standard ADT is “autonomous ready”

The vehicle – a standard E-series ADT – comes “autonomous ready”. This is thanks to the fact that, with the E-series generation of trucks, Bell engineers developed a platform with interoperability in mind, that can easily be integrated with hardware and software from third-party suppliers, enabling the truck to operate either remotely or autonomously.

Practically, this means that, working in conjunction with partners companies, the ADT can be easily and affordably converted from a standard machine into a fully autonomous unit. Costs on the truck involve the installation of the third party's hardware and software required to provide machine instruction. This solution isn’t just affordable; it is also flexible. Take a potential scenario with mining contractors, for example. Once their ADTs have finished a contract on an autonomous site, the sensory and control system could easily be removed and the truck either fitted with a new system for another site or be used in a manual operation.

 

Autonomous is the future

According to Bell Equipment ADT Product Marketing Manager, Nick Kyriacos, an autonomous operation has three elements. “It requires machines that can be operated remotely, external sensors that become the eyes and ears of the machine, and sophisticated site control software that manages the operation based on communication with the other two elements.”

Kyriacos says providing autonomous-ready machines will be a part of the company’s core business in the future – but Bell won’t go it alone. “In terms of sensing and guidance systems it makes sense to partner with market leaders and innovators, as we do with drivetrain, hydraulics and electronics technologies in our trucks to provide our customers with the best product available,” he explains.

Autonomy in the Alps

And this is exactly what the company has been doing in the Alps since early 2020. It partnered with indurad and voestalpine on a lime quarry site in the Alps where the former company has fitted its iTruck autonomous haulage system (AHS) on Bell B30E ADTs with excellent results.

“Autonomous control in this application is advancing all the time as technology pushes the boundaries and improves the efficiency of the operation. The project is ongoing, and we are now growing our number of collaborations both locally and abroad,” says Bell Equipment’s Manager: Electrical and Software, Eben Lemmer.

Global launch in Vegas

Fast forward to September 2021 and Bell has now officially launched “the most affordable autonomous articulated dump truck in the world” at MINExpo 2021 in Las Vegas (MINExpo is the world’s largest mining exhibition).

The vehicle was launched in conjunction with Pronto, a leader in autonomous driving and collision avoidance solutions. Pronto, which describes itself as “a safe-driving autonomy company” was founded in the United States in 2018. In that same year, it became the first, and still the only, company to successfully drive coast-to-coast in the United States without a single driver input. Today, that same technology is being applied to less congested and more predictable off-road operations, providing multiple layers of safety protections and assuring flawless operations. The end result is a far simpler, more scalable, and affordable autonomous solution for off-road environments.

Testing started November 2020

Bell Trucks America started working with Pronto in November 2020, when it provided a new B50E as a test unit to the company. The unit has been operating on several mine sites on the west coast of the USA, allowing Pronto and Bell the time and experience to get the product to where it is today, which is self-driving on a mine site through a full load and haul cycles over and over again.

Autonomy is achieved on the E-series ADTs by marrying Pronto AI’s plug-and-play hardware and software with the “autonomous ready” platform of the Bell ADT. The result is a fully autonomous standard Bell ADT, able to operate through the load, haul and dump cycle without an operator.

The Pronto system uses cameras mounted on the truck to observe the road and job site environment. It then feeds that data into neural networks that analyse every image in conjunction with other inputs to make optimal driving decisions. Today's cameras have excellent resolution and range and are used with intelligent software to translate to machine learning and sensor processing hardware to offer all the options for self-driving ADTs.

Simple and affordable technology

Ognen Stojanovski, Chief Operating Officer of Pronto, says the purpose of the cooperation is to be able to bring affordable technology to market. “We’re excited to bring our technology to markets that can most benefit from safety and efficiency improvements. The technology needs to be simple to install, easy to operate, flexible, and affordable. We’ve accomplished all of that, and Bell Equipment with its advanced ADT platform is a natural partner for us as we roll this out to the industry at large.”

 Pieter Goosen, Bell Equipment's Chief Technology Officer, concurs. “An ADT that can work 24/7, with the safety elements deployed in Pronto's software and with haul optimization and absolute consistency in the way it operates is fascinating. Lower operating costs, making worksites safer, and lower daily maintenance will see production efficiency and cost at its best.”

 

The next question is obvious: when will we see “the most affordable autonomous articulated dump truck in the world” in South Africa? “Should there be demand in South Africa for this technology, it would be available,” comments Kyriacos.

Now that will be something really special to see…