Sweden’s Epiroc says an order for its open heavy vehicle autonomy platform from €31 billion German building materials major Heidelberg Materials could give it a beachhead in the aggregates sector.
Epiroc said the “proof of concept” project in Western Australia would demonstrate how automation could be applied in “complex” mid-scale quarry operations, where adoption of automated machinery had been limited by operating conditions and design variability.
Heidelberg has extensive aggregate operations across Europe, North America and Australia.
The company has said it plans to increase its use of autonomous heavy mobile equipment globally, aiming to reach 30 autonomous vehicles this year and more than 100 by the end of 2028.
Epiroc described itself as one of Heidelberg’s technology partners.
It would deploy its LinkOA “open, OEM-agnostic autonomy platform” to connect and operate some 60-tonne-payload haul trucks, loaders and auxiliary vehicles at a quarry in Western Australia.
“The project focuses on validating safe mixed-fleet operation, improved haulage efficiency, reduced operator dependency, and system performance across varying conditions,” Epiroc said.
No financial details were given.
“Our LinkOA system is already a proven mining automation technology and with this project we look forward to bringing the same productivity and safety benefits to the aggregates sector,” Epiroc CEO Helena Hedblom said.
Hedblom said late last year Western Australia’s Hancock Iron Ore was “at the absolute forefront of mining automation” after converting 78 of its Roy Hill iron ore mine haul trucks from manual to fully driverless using LinkOA.
Hancock vehicles use LinkOA traffic management and on-board automation systems to navigate Roy Hill’s virtual map, communicating with ancillary vehicles and the company’s remote operations centre (ROC) about 1100km away in Perth, the capital city of WA.
Epiroc says more than 350 million tonnes of material have been moved autonomously at Roy Hill using LinkOA.
Autonomous haulage brought proven productivity and safety benefits such as 24/7 operation, removal of operators from hazardous environments and reduction of accidents linked to human error and fatigue.
Epiroc also partnered in 2025 with American crushed stone producer Luck Stone on deployment of a fully autonomous drill rig at a quarry in the US.
