Abstract
Automated vehicles (AVs) are under great scrutiny regarding safety while interacting with humans, and rightfully so. The mining industry requires AVs to conform to zero harm and to be ‘as safe as possible’. Current vehicle safety standards, best practices, and approaches are not yet adequate to ensure the safe interaction with humans in any environment, including within an active mining operation. The application of these technologies continually prompts the question: How must the industry define ‘as safe as possible’?
Taking a holistic approach that considers all aspects of a safe AV deployment is crucial. An effective way to cover all aspects of safety is a proactive assessment and verification process since AV deployment must consider many different elements, including the mine, management practices, and the vehicles. A critical and foundational element of this approach is the assessment and quantification of both human and machine risks within the Operational Design Domain, or ODD. ODD can be defined as the domain where miners and AV equipment interact. When we begin to fully specify an ODD rather than define it by subjective assumptions, we can address all aspects of safety. We show that all aspects of an ODD in an underground or open pit mine can be captured to allow for quantitative optimization of the ODD. These include things like surface weather, underground environmental conditions, and the vast number of complex driving scenarios with their inherent risks.
The objective of this presentation is to provide an understanding of the critical steps to consider before, during, and after an AV deployment to ensure a safe implementation. A discussion of the various risks to evaluate and mitigate, the infrastructure design features, and the unique technology offerings and methodologies available will also be discussed.