Chinese maker of autonomous mining trucks targets Australia, the Middle East and South America

CiDi already operates more than 1,700 autonomous vehicles across 30 mines in China and now wants international markets to account for double-digit revenue as soon as next year.

CiDi, a Hong Kong-listed Chinese manufacturer of autonomous mining equipment, announced plans to accelerate its international expansion, targeting contracts in Australia, the Middle East, South America and Europe. The company already operates a global fleet of more than 1,700 autonomous vehicles — unmanned electric trucks, excavators and explosive-handling equipment — spread across 30 mines and quarries, mostly in China.

The figure that sets this case apart from a simple commercial expansion is the operator-to-machine ratio: a single remote controller can already supervise around 100 trucks at once, the kind of productivity gain that justifies investing in autonomy even in markets with cheaper labor than China's. The company is also testing drilling robots, expected in early 2027, and trucks fitted with robotic arms — a fusion of vehicle and robot that CEO Albert Hu describes as a deliberate company goal. The business model is "asset-light": CiDi sells software and hardware, it doesn't operate the mines, which lets it scale internationally without the heavy capital of buying its own fleet in every country.

Chinese manufacturers of autonomous mining equipment are moving from regional suppliers to direct competitors of established Western players in mine automation, at a time when demand for lower labor costs and better operational safety is growing globally. For anyone managing mining fleets, the ratio of 100 trucks per remote operator is a new productivity benchmark — and for engineers and technicians, the line between "driving a machine" and "operating a robot" keeps getting thinner.