DriveAssist is a platform for off-road vehicles with capabilities ranging from collision avoidance and operator assistance to total vehicle automation. The updated platform boasts 2.5cm position accuracy as well as 100% position availability for up to one hour. These features are particularly important when vehicles travel alongside longwalls or to the bottom of mining pits.

Despite these technical advancements, the company stated that the platform remains low-cost and can provide benefits to all mining operations, regardless of size or budget. Thanks to universal machine support, identical DriveAssist components can be installed on any piece of equipment or even stationary objects, such as points of interest. This streamlined hardware can greatly benefit the end user by simplifying maintenance, training, parts inventory, and support requirements.

Mehran Motamed, CEO of Rigid Robotics, said: “Automation is the answer to cost, productivity and safety challenges faced by the industry today. It shouldn’t mean expensive and it shouldn’t discount the human aspect of integration. That was our approach in creating DriveAssist as a low-cost upgrade-friendly platform.”

The DriveAssist platform also remains in compliance with the Global Mining Standards Group (GMSG) and features an Open-API. Through its unified platform, DriveAssist is capable of running multiple applications that can be easily installed. Sample applications include Adaptive Proximity Detection (APD), Predictive Collision Avoidance (PCA), Predictive Emergency Breaking (PEB), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Adaptive Truck Convoy (ATC), and Unmanned Vehicle Navigation (UVN).

Rigid Robotics previously announced that it will display an entirely new unmanned aerial system, named Conductor, at the show. The company’s booth will be #25353, located in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.