Epiroc Expands Autonomous Haulage Technology to the Aggregates Industry

Epiroc has secured an order from Heidelberg Materials to adapt and implement its LinkOA autonomous haulage system for driverless haul trucks at a quarry in Western Australia. The proof-of-concept project extends the company’s autonomous technology beyond mining into aggregates operations.

The project is designed to demonstrate how autonomous haulage can be applied in mid-sized quarry operations, where varying site layouts and operating conditions have traditionally made automation more challenging than in conventional surface mining.

Heidelberg Materials recently announced plans to accelerate the deployment of autonomous heavy mobile equipment across its global operations, targeting around 30 autonomous vehicles by the end of 2026 and more than 100 by the end of 2028. Under the project, Epiroc will deploy LinkOA on selected Komatsu HD605 haul trucks, which will operate alongside loaders and auxiliary vehicles in a mixed-fleet environment.

According to Epiroc, the trial will evaluate safe mixed-fleet operation, haulage efficiency, reduced dependence on operators and system performance under varying operating conditions. Autonomous haulage systems are intended to improve productivity through continuous operation while enhancing safety by removing operators from hazardous environments and reducing incidents linked to human error and fatigue.

Building on mining experience

The order follows Epiroc’s deployment of LinkOA at Hancock Iron Ore’s Roy Hill operation in Australia, which became the world’s largest OEM-agnostic fully autonomous mine in 2025. The system currently controls 78 autonomous mining trucks, and more than 350 million tonnes of material have been transported autonomously at the site.

LinkOA is Epiroc’s open, OEM-agnostic autonomy platform designed to integrate haulage, drilling and blasting under a single control system. The platform combines sensors, cameras and artificial intelligence to support real-time operational decision-making across mixed fleets.

The company has also expanded the platform into quarry drilling. In 2025, Epiroc partnered with U.S.-based Luck Stone to deploy a fully autonomous SmartROC D65 surface drill rig, described by the company as the first fully autonomous surface drill delivered to the quarry industry.

Earlier this year, LinkOA received the Engineering Product of the Year award at the 2026 Digital Engineering Awards.