A brand new driverless mining dump truck entered operations at an open-pit mine in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Thursday, marking another major breakthrough in China's push for intelligent, electric and domestically produced heavy-duty mining transport equipment.

The 100-tonne-class pure electric bidirectional truck was developed by the State Development and Investment Corp. (SDIC) Power Holdings Company and was put into use at the Nanlutian open-pit mine in Holingol City.

The vehicle can achieve a fully closed-loop operation process encompassing automatic loading, autonomous driving and precision unloading. It features a pure-electric drivetrain and innovative battery swapping technology, enabling zero-emission transport without the long charging times of conventional electric heavy-duty trucks.

Unlike conventional vehicles that require short-distance reversing, it can drive both forward and backward without the need for large-radius turning, significantly improving production efficiency.