Caterpillar, Luck Stone to bring autonomous hauling to aggregates industry

Caterpillar, an American construction equipment manufacturer, has partnered with Luck Stone, a US crushed stone, sand, and gravel producer, to accelerate the deployment of its autonomous solutions beyond mining.

In its first autonomous deployment in the aggregates industry, Caterpillar will implement its autonomous solution at Luck Stone’s Bull Run Plant in Chantilly, Virginia.

Caterpillar will implement its existing Cat MineStar Command for Hauling system on a fleet of 777G trucks at the Bull Run quarry, thereby expanding its autonomous truck fleet to include the 100-ton-class (90-tonne-class) Cat 777.

Charlie Luck — Luck Companies President and CEO, said: “Our collaboration will provide opportunities for associates to learn and grow, improve safety and result in production efficiencies.”

Through the deployment collaboration, Caterpillar is expected to gain insights to manufacture the next generation of autonomous solutions specific to quarry and aggregate applications.

The construction equipment manufacturer will deploy the existing autonomy solutions in 2024.

Denise Johnson — Caterpillar Group Resource Industries President said: “Caterpillar has a long-standing relationship with Luck Stone, and we look forward to working together to bring the demonstrated benefits of increased safety and productivity to the quarry industry.

“We’re excited to get in the dirt and work alongside Luck Stone’s innovative team, so we can learn how to scale our already proven mining solution for another industry.”

With 2021 sales and revenues of $51 billion, Caterpillar has more than 560 trucks that have travelled over 187 million kilometers and autonomously moved over 5.1 billion tonnes without a single zero lost-time injury.

Founded by Charles Luck Jr. in 1923, Luck Stone is a division of Luck Companies and has 29 operating locations and more than 900 associates.