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Caterpillar to Expand Vale's Fleet of Autonomous Haul Trucks in Brazil

Metals and Mining

The Business Honor Caterpillar Expands Vale Fleet

Business Honor
18 December, 2025

Partnership aims to enhance operational efficiency and reduce emissions in Vale's Carajás iron ore mining operations.

Caterpillar, the heavy equipment leader, has entered into a business agreement with Vale that will lead to a massive expansion of Vale's fleet of autonomous haul trucks for use at Vale's iron ore sites in the Carajás area of Brazil over the next three years. Currently, Vale operates 14 CAT, 320-ton autonomous haul trucks at its Northern System mining operation. With this new contract between Caterpillar's Brazilian dealer Sotreq and Vale, the fleet of autonomous haul trucks will grow to approximately 90 huge self driving technology trucks by 2028. Caterpillar MineStar Command for Hauling will operate the trucks that will have a payload capacity of 240 to 400 tons.

Marc Cameron, Caterpillar's Senior Vice President, is excited about the introduction of Cat Command for hauling in Vale's Carajás operation. "We're delivering scalable solutions that will be used across the entire fleet of haul trucks at Vale by outfitting Vale's trucks with a state-of-the-art autonomous solution. This represents a transformational leap," stated Caterpillar. "This partnership will create a safer and more inclusive environment for mine employees while also improving operational efficiency for Vale."

The company's assertion of a transformational leap is backed by the fact that other Vale locations with large fleets of autonomous trucks have achieved as much as a 15 percent improvement in operational performance and a 7.5 percent reduction in fuel consumption (higher reductions are expected with electric drive) which helps reduce Vale's carbon emissions.

Vale's Vice President of Technical, Rafael Bittar, stated, "We're modernizing our Northern Corridor mining through the use of autonomous systems, artificial intelligence and advanced data analysis. We want to become a global leader in smart mining and be a reference point in the industry." The delivery of the trucks will take place over the next three years with full operation expected by 2030.