Technology
Smarter, safer AI-driven mining fleets THE DEPLOYMENT OF ADVANCED DATA ANALYTICS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND INCREASED CONNECTIVITY THROUGH THE INTERNET OF THINGS ARE KEY DRIVERS OF THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION IN THE MINING SECTOR. ONE AREA WHERE MACHINE LEARNING CAN PLAY A BIG ROLE IS FLEET MANAGEMENT.
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he Australian mining industry has one of the highest fatality and injury rates of any industry. A combined total of 2808 working days per year are lost due to injuries alone. This makes it easy to see why mining companies have a lot to gain from this advanced technology and why rates of adoption continue to grow. There’s an urgency to ensure mine site safety and maintain regulatory compliance, which has resulted in a need for mining companies to become more proactive in managing daily operations to mitigate risk. WHY AI IS THE FUTURE OF FLEET MANAGEMENT The use of artificial intelligence (AI) can allow for a deeper analysis of fleet operations as well as more accurate and specific predictions than have been seen before. Thanks to AI, mining fleets can improve the accuracy of telematicsderived data related to driver behaviour, asset tracking, fleet utilisation and overall fleet operations which, in turn, can improve site safety, driver safety, productivity and cost-efficiency. AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING AI-driven automated decision-making is also becoming more common when it comes to fleet-maintenance issues. Many fleets today practice preventive
AI enables deeper analysis of fleet operations as well as more accurate and specific predictions in mining operations.
maintenance – for instance, sending a notification or alert every 10,000 kilometres to change the vehicle oil to prevent future engine problems. By analysing engine data, fleet information can get more precise and predictive than ever before. Not every vehicle needs its oil changed at 10,000 kilometres – where, how and how frequently depends on factors like the way a vehicle is driven and the condition of the oil. Telematics data pulled from the engine and analysed can give a more precise picture and enable fleets to predict exactly when maintenance is needed to suit a particular circumstance. Users can see how such a process would lead to better efficiency, greater vehicle uptime and increased productivity. Preventive fleet maintenance is where AI really shines.
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MAKING FLEETS SAFER Another feature of AI that could help in making mine fleets safer is facial recognition. In-cab cameras are a big growth area in telematics. According to Berg Insight, the market for video telematics will grow by 22.2 per cent between 2020 and 2025, to 3.2 million subscribers. Video telematics can reduce collisions by 60 per cent and the related costs by 75 per cent. Visual evidence collected by in-cab cameras is a powerful tool for insurance claims and driver safety training. What’s more, video telematics is increasingly being used in combination with AI technology to help provide visual context. This helps to determine the circumstances around specific events such as on-site crashes.
