Infrastructure Improvements Nearing Completion for Bagdad Autonomous Project

January 8, 2025 - Haul Truck 230 represents the future of mining – in Bagdad, Arizona, and perhaps across the industry.

The Caterpillar 793-D truck is the first in the fleet at Freeport’s Bagdad site to complete the equipment conversion to be fully compatible with autonomous operation, though it continues to be operated manually. By the end of this year, 33 driverless haul trucks will be responsible for more than 95 percent of Bagdad’s total haulage needs if all goes as planned.

Bagdad is on track to begin the conversion to autonomous haulage in March and have its entire fleet of haul trucks driverless by the end of 2025, said Mark Elliott, Project Manager, Engineering II.

Construction of a new command center where the trucks will be monitored and controlled is nearing completion. So are other improvements, including two tunnels to allow light vehicle access to work locations without entering the isolated autonomous zone.

Training is ongoing for anyone whose job involves driving in the pit and therefore potentially interacting with the driverless vehicles. That training includes time in a new simulator that uses wraparound screens to virtually recreate the experience of driving a Ford F-250 pickup around the mine while autonomous haul trucks operate as they will in real life.

To make it as realistic as possible, video, photographs and even drone footage of the actual mine property was taken and built into the simulator program, so the experience is tailor-made to recreate driving in Bagdad, said Matt McQuillan, Senior Technical Instructor and Facilitator.

While 230 was the first haul truck to have all the equipment installed for autonomous driving, a second vehicle was fully converted in December.

The transition to autonomous haulage will happen gradually, Elliott said.

Beginning in February, the two fully converted autonomous trucks will be deployed in an isolation zone segregated from the regular sections of the mine where manned trucks operate. This will be the testing phase to see if the driverless trucks behave as advertised by Caterpillar, which designed the kit to convert standard 793-D model trucks to autonomous.

Most of the testing will involve safety, such as making sure the trucks automatically stop when they encounter an obstruction and stay within their assigned routes at the proper speeds.

If the February tests in the isolation zone go well, four autonomous trucks will be operated in a pushback dedicated to autonomous haulage only. After that production phase is deemed successful, a larger pushback will be dedicated to autonomous haulage.

During this phase, there will be times when the two types of vehicles are operating beside each other, though their movements will be coordinated to minimize interaction, Elliott said. By sometime in the fourth quarter of 2025, the plan is to have nothing but autonomous haul trucks operating at Bagdad.

Photos (top to bottom): Barry Grove, the driver of Haul Truck 230, the first Bagdad truck with the equipment upgrade to run autonomously; Matt McQuillan (standing) instructs Andre Gomez, Support Equipment Operator I, using a new simulator that virtually recreate the experience of driving a Ford F-250 pickup while autonomous haul trucks operate as they will in real life; a pair of tunnels will allow light vehicles to access parts of the mine while bypassing an isolated autonomous zone where driverless trucks will be tested.