Wenco International and Oxbotica sign a MOU to develop an open-autonomy solution that will empower users to adopt autonomy technologies different from the OEM equipment to which they will be deployed. (Photo: Wenco)
On June 10, mine fleet management specialist, Wenco International Mining Systems, and U.K.-based autonomous technology provider Oxbotica, announced a Memorandum of Understanding to develop an open-autonomy solution for mining.
The companies said the open-autonomy solution will provide customers flexibility and efficiency in the deployment of autonomous mining equipment, allowing them to operate any open standard-based vehicle and integrate it into their existing fleet.
This approach avoids vendor lock-in and offers customers the freedom to choose preferred technologies, independent of their primary industrial systems.
Wenco is a wholly owned subsidiary company of Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM), and the announcement builds upon the two companies’ vision of an open autonomous ecosystem for mine sites that was first announced by HCM at the May 2019 CIM conference in Montreal, Canada.
Oxbotica was founded in 2014 at the University of Oxford to develop an autonomy software platform that enables faster deployment of industry-specific autonomy applications. Its mining solutions combine advanced robotics, artificial intelligence and computer vision to change the way vehicle fleets operate.
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