Driverless Ford Ranger hits the dirt

Imagine touring the Outback, caravan in tow, without having to worry about who does the next four-hour driving stint...

Well, mining giant Fortescue Metals Group has provided a hint of what a driver-free towing future might look like, after retrofitting four vehicles from its Ford Ranger fleet to operate autonomously around the Christmas Creek mine site in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

The mining company’s Technology and Autonomy team has equipped each Ford Ranger with its own LiDAR/radar system, hooked into the vehicle automation system and providing the Australian-developed ute with the ability to detect and avoid obstacles on the mapped route.

According to Fortescue, the vehicle automation system incorporates “a comprehensive independent safety management and fail-safe braking system and extensive built-in system monitoring and fault response capability”.

The driverless Ford Ranger utes, referred to as autonomous light vehicles (ALVs), promise to save 12,000 round trips a year, delivering or collecting equipment and parts.

With each round trip measuring 28km, the self-driving Rangers will deliver a significant gain in productivity for Fortescue’s Christmas Creek mobile maintenance team.

In developing the ALVs, Fortescue counted on the assistance of Ford Australia, which designed and engineered the Ranger here under the auspice of the T6 project, which has also been the over-arching R&D project for the Everest SUV.

But the bulk of the development work was carried out by the Fortescue team, which plans to extend the use of the ALVs to other mining sites around the country.

It’s not the first time a mining company in Australia has gone off-piste, developing a vehicle for the company’s specific needs.

Just a month ago, BHP announced that it was developing an electric-powered version of the 70 Series Toyota LandCruiser workhorse, in partnership with Toyota Australia.

Previously BHP had sampled a LandCruiser modified by aftermarket supplier Voltra.

Although mining companies have been running autonomous vehicles around their mine sites for some years, and Australian mining companies have been at the leading edge in the practical application of this technology, the ALVs are understood to be unprecedented anywhere in the world, being smaller and lighter by far than the huge Komatsu and Caterpillar trucks that are already in operation throughout the country.

“The autonomous light vehicle project is a significant advancement of our in-house automation capability, building on our leading autonomous haulage system (AHS) program which has already delivered significant productivity and efficiency improvements for the business," said Fortescue CEO Elizabeth Gaines.

“With the flexibility to introduce similar systems into other mobile assets, this project is fundamental to our future mobile equipment automation projects,” she said.

Ford Australia president Andrew Birkic added that the Blue Oval brand can learn from Fortescue’s development work.

“We’re very proud that our award-winning Ford Rangers have been used as part of the Fortescue Metals Group autonomous light vehicle project,” Birkic said.

“Ford globally is at the forefront of research into autonomous vehicles, and working with companies like Fortescue is critical to gaining an insight into specific user applications.”