Caterpillar has announced a partnership with Luck Stone, the largest producer of crushed stone, sand, and gravel in the United States, to deploy Caterpillar’s autonomous solutions at Luck Stone’s Bull Run quarry in Chantilly, Virginia. It will be Caterpillar’s first autonomous deployment in the gravel industry and will expand the company’s fleet of autonomous trucks, including the 90-ton Cat777.
To accelerate autonomous solutions beyond the mining industry, Caterpillar will implement its existing Cat® MineStar™ Command for Hauling system in the Bull Run Quarry’s fleet of 777G trucks. This will allow Caterpillar to gain greater insight into the quarry’s operations in order to tailor next-generation autonomous solutions for quarry and gravel applications. The project enables a step change in safety and productivity by adding autonomous technology to job operations and reducing mobile equipment.
The partnership between Luck Stone and Caterpillar has been based on shared values for many years, said Charlie Luck, president, and CEO of Luck Corporation. Both parties share the belief that safety, innovation, and a commitment to people are critical, not only to drive projects forward but also to ensure all the possibilities that technology empowers the industry.
Caterpillar and Luck Stone have a long-standing relationship and both parties look forward to working together to bring significant safety and productivity benefits to the quarrying industry, said Denise Johnson, president of Caterpillar Resources Industries. Caterpillar’s in-depth knowledge and work with Luck Stone’s innovation team will allow Caterpillar to learn how to scale already-proven mining solutions to another industry.
Currently, the autonomous solution will be implemented in 2024. This project builds on Caterpillar’s long history in autonomy and automation. The company has the largest fleet of autonomous delivery trucks in the world, with more than 560 trucks now. These trucks have driven more than 187 million kilometers and autonomously transported more than 5.1 billion tons, all without a single workplace accident.
