Working closely with Caterpillar's Pittsburgh Automation Center, Carnegie Mellon will build on more than a decade's worth of its research into self-driving vehicles to automate Caterpillar's two largest mining haul trucks, each with a payload of 240 tons or more. Aided by the autonomous mining haulage system developed by a mining tech firm BHP Billiton, the technology is expected to help minimize environmental impact by both improved efficiency and overall mine safety.

"This project is one of many allowing researchers and engineers from the National Robotics Engineering Center and Caterpillar to create innovative solutions for differentiated Cat products and services, with increased speed to market," said Sam Kherat, manager of the Pittsburgh Automation Center. Autonomous trucks should be integrated into some BHP Billiton mine sites by 2010.