CiDi exports autonomous “miners”: China is preparing a new technological breakthrough

Chinese CiDi is preparing for the first time to massively launch its autonomous mining machines in foreign markets — Australia, the Middle East, Europe. The company is accelerating its expansion, expanding its fleet of unmanned dump trucks and introducing robots for blasting and drilling to the market.

Export start: Australia first on the list

CiDi CEO Albert Hu told Reuters that the company is ready for the first time to large-scale implementation of its autonomous systems outside of China, writes xrust. In Australia, their technology is already on excavators, but now we are talking about full deployment.

At the same time, CiDi is trying to gain a foothold in the Middle East, South America and Europe — contract negotiations are ongoing there.

CiDi is growing faster than the industry

The company went public at the end of 2025 and doubled its revenue last year to 884.8 million yuan (≈$130.6 million).

Hu noted that the adoption of CiDi technologies in China has grown by 374% , while the industry average growth is about 73% .

He expects that next year foreign markets will give the company a double-digit percentage of revenue , whereas previously it was a low single-digit figure.

Unmanned dump trucks: China is the world leader

12 fully electric autonomous dump trucks are already operating at the TCC Group Holdings quarry in Jurong (Jiangsu Province). They charge themselves, drive themselves, transport limestone themselves. CiDi considers the fleet to be the first all-electric and fully autonomous mining fleet.

China is generally the leader: about 10% of mining dump trucks in the country already operate without drivers.

CiDi Global Park — 1700+ cars . One operator can drive about a hundred dump trucks. Hu emphasizes that this ratio can be increased.

Coordination of hundreds of machines is the main trump card of CiDi

In large coal mines, up to 500 autonomous trucks . Hu explains that managing such an array of equipment is CiDi's key technological advantage.

According to him, competitors cannot yet provide as stable coordination of the movement of large fleets.

Robots for explosives and drilling are on the way

CiDi is preparing to introduce robotic machines for transporting explosives and drilling. Hu clarifies that we are talking about full-scale truckloads of explosives that need to be precisely placed into a hillside to crush the rock.

Installations for working with explosives should appear in the third quarter. Drilling robots — early next year. The first regions are Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, where after the May gas explosion (82 deaths), safety requirements were sharply tightened.

The “minimum assets” model and partners abroad

class=»notranslate»>__GTAG5__ Unlike competitors, CiDi does not maintain its own fleet of equipment. It sells equipment and software to mine operators, and outsources production to partners — manufacturers of trucks and mining equipment.

The company has an agreement with the British MMD Group. New partnerships are being prepared, including with Chinese operators operating abroad.

Context for the Russian audience

The Russian market for autonomous mining is still developing in a targeted manner. Unmanned dump trucks are being tested in individual quarries, but there is no mass implementation.

Chinese companies, including CiDi and EACON, are forming a new global standard: — fully autonomous quarries, — robotic blasting, — remote control of hundreds of machines.

For Russian operators, this is a signal: technological competition will be international, and the gap with China will be growing.

If China begins to export such systems to Europe and Australia, then the appearance of Chinese autonomous systems in the CIS markets is a matter of time.

Sources: https://www.reuters.com , https://www.hkex.com.hk/

Xrust CiDi exports autonomous “miners”: China is preparing a new technological breakthrough