virginir.com - Caterpillar Paves the Way for Future Technology Advancements with Launch of Autonomous Cat® 777 Off-Highway Truck at Luck Stone Quarry

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IRVING, Texas, Nov. 7, 2024 ~ Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) has reached a significant milestone in its goal to provide an autonomous hauling solution for the quarry and aggregates sector. The company announced today that it has successfully demonstrated the fully autonomous operation of its Cat® 777 off-highway truck at Luck Stone's Bull Run plant in Chantilly, Va.

This marks Caterpillar's first deployment of autonomous technology in the aggregates industry and is a result of their collaboration with Luck Stone, the largest family-owned and operated producer of crushed stone, sand, and gravel in the United States. In December 2022, the two companies announced an agreement to accelerate the development of Caterpillar's autonomous solutions for quarry and aggregate applications.

The successful deployment of the fully autonomous Cat® 777 off-highway truck at Bull Run plant highlights the progress being made between Caterpillar and Luck Stone. This also expands Caterpillar's autonomous truck fleet to include the 100-ton-class (90-tonne-class) Cat® 777.

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Caterpillar has long been recognized as an industry leader in autonomy, with their autonomous trucks on three continents having traveled more than 325 million kilometers and autonomously moving more than 8.62 billion tonnes. In fact, their current fleet of autonomous trucks with Command for hauling moves more tons per year worldwide than the total annual U.S. crushed stone production. This technology has been proven to improve performance in some of the world's largest mines.

For two years, Caterpillar has been working closely with Luck Stone to build expertise in quarry operations and develop a scalable and economically viable system for customers across the quarry industry. This collaboration aims to not only increase productivity but also improve safety for workers.

Denise Johnson, group president of Caterpillar's Resource Industries, congratulated both teams on this achievement saying, "It's meaningful not just for Bull Run operations, but for our customers of all sizes as we develop new technologies to serve the quarry and aggregates as well as construction industries. This hands-on collaboration has accelerated our ability to scale our proven mining solution for this sector."

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The success of autonomous hauling at Bull Run plant is just the beginning of the collaboration between Caterpillar and Luck Stone. This achievement will lay the foundation for ongoing testing and validation of assumptions and technology before making autonomous technology commercially available in the aggregates industry.

Charlie Luck, Chairman and CEO of Luck Companies, expressed his excitement for the future of autonomy in the industry saying, "The successful implementation of an autonomous hauling solution at our Bull Run Plant is a major accomplishment for Luck Stone associates, for Caterpillar, and for our industry. Our mission is to ignite human potential and positively impact the lives of others, and this project does just that by providing opportunities and experiences for our associates to grow and learn. Caterpillar's innovative technology will also improve safety and be a tool for attracting the next generation of mining professionals. We're excited for the future and what's next for autonomy, and thankful for our continued, collaborative relationship with Caterpillar."

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