California-based OEM-agnostic autonomous haulage system developer Pronto.ai has unveiled the first tiered autonomous haulage portfolio to bring “physics-first” autonomy to mining.
The release of the AHS options, Pronto AHS VLR and Pronto AHS VLR 360, is a major expansion of its product portfolio, it said, and complement its existing flagship vision-only system. The additions create the industry’s first tiered autonomy architecture, Pronto Editions, to address specific physics and economics for every mining environment.
While the vision-only edition remains the standard for cost-effective quarry automation, it said, the new VLR editions are engineered to conquer the extreme operational demands of deep-pit hard rock mining.
A physics-first approach
The expansion is driven by the fundamental physics of heavy haulage; while computer vision provides exceptional semantic understanding for quarry-class trucks, the massive kinetic energy of 400-ton ultra-class haulers requires detection ranges that exceed the limits of vision alone, the company said. Furthermore, the 24/7 operating mandates of global mining require perception systems that can penetrate dense fog, dust, and snow – conditions that can frequently ground optical-only systems.
“Autonomy is not a one-size-fits-all proposition,” said Anthony Levandowski, CEO.
“The physics of stopping a 100-ton truck in a Texas quarry are radically different from stopping a 400-ton hauler in a Chilean blizzard. We proved that Vision is the killer app for quarries, delivering the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry. Now, with VLR and VLR 360, we are bringing that same ‘AI-First’ intelligence to the world’s most challenging mining operations, fortified with the active sensing required to guarantee uptime in zero-visibility conditions.”
The Pronto Editions AHS Portfolio
The new portfolio architecture allows operators to select the edition that matches their Operational Design Domain (ODD) and unit economics:
- Pronto AHS Vision: The industry’s most affordable, rapid-deployment solution. Utilizing HDR cameras and an AI-first design philosophy, it offers a “zero-entry” barrier to autonomy for quarries and aggregate producers, optimized for labor savings and retrofit simplicity.
- Pronto AHS VLR (Vision + Lidar + Radar): Designed for the mining major. This edition fuses camera semantics with the geometric precision of long-range Lidar and the weather-penetrating capabilities of Radar. It creates a “fail-operational” system capable of maintaining production through dust, fog, and precipitation that would blind a human operator.
- Pronto AHS VLR 360: The ultimate in safety and compliance. Featuring a comprehensive 360-degree sensor array, this edition digitizes the entire vehicle perimeter, enabling complex maneuvering in congested, mixed-traffic zones for the largest haulers in the most complex operating environments.
“With the launch of Pronto Editions, we are declaring the end of the ‘sensor wars’,” added Levandowski. “We don’t use Lidar because we can’t do vision; we use Lidar where it’s the right physics to solve specific customer problems.”
The first deployments of Pronto AHS VLR 360 are already underway in production mining environments. The VLR Editions retain Pronto’s signature OEM agnosticism, capable of retrofitting any haul truck platform, including the industry’s largest haulers, such as the Komatsu 980 and Caterpillar 798.
Source: www.pronto.ai