New Editions Bring "Physics-First" Autonomy to Ultra-Class Mining, Combining Vision, Lidar, and Radar for Unmatched All-Weather Performance and Safety

SAN FRANCISCO: #AHS--Pronto.ai, Inc. (Pronto), the global leader in OEM-agnostic autonomous haulage systems (AHS), today announced a major expansion of its product portfolio with the introduction of Pronto AHS VLR and Pronto AHS VLR 360. These new editions complement the company’s flagship Vision-Only system, creating the industry’s first tiered autonomy architecture - Pronto Editions - designed to address the specific physics and economics of every mining environment, from regional quarries to Tier 1 ultra-class operations.

This announcement follows Pronto’s recent operational milestone at Heidelberg Materials’ Lake Bridgeport quarry, where the company’s Vision-Only AHS successfully hauled over two million tons of material in a mixed-fleet environment in less than eight months of operations. While the Vision-Only edition remains the standard for cost-effective quarry automation, the new VLR editions are engineered to conquer the extreme operational demands of deep-pit hard rock mining.

A Physics-First Approach to Autonomy

The expansion is driven by the fundamental physics of heavy haulage. While computer vision provides exceptional semantic understanding for quarry-class trucks, the massive kinetic energy of 400-ton ultra-class haulers requires detection ranges that exceed the limits of vision alone. Furthermore, the 24/7 operating mandates of global mining require perception systems that can penetrate dense fog, dust, and snow - conditions that can frequently ground optical-only systems.

"Autonomy is not a one-size-fits-all proposition," said Anthony Levandowski, CEO of Pronto. "The physics of stopping a 100-ton truck in a Texas quarry are radically different from stopping a 400-ton hauler in a Chilean blizzard. We proved that Vision is the killer app for quarries, delivering the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry. Now, with VLR and VLR 360, we are bringing that same 'AI-First' intelligence to the world’s most challenging mining operations, fortified with the active sensing required to guarantee uptime in zero-visibility conditions."

The Pronto Editions AHS Portfolio

The new portfolio architecture allows operators to select the edition that matches their Operational Design Domain (ODD) and unit economics:

• Pronto AHS Vision: The industry’s most affordable, rapid-deployment solution. Utilizing HDR cameras and an AI-first design philosophy, it offers a "Zero-Entry" barrier to autonomy for quarries and aggregate producers, optimized for labor savings and retrofit simplicity.
• Pronto AHS VLR (Vision + Lidar + Radar): Designed for the mining major. This edition fuses camera semantics with the geometric precision of long-range Lidar and the weather-penetrating capabilities of Radar. It creates a "Fail-Operational" system capable of maintaining production through dust, fog, and precipitation that would blind a human operator.
• Pronto AHS VLR 360: The ultimate in safety and compliance. Featuring a comprehensive 360-degree sensor array, this edition digitizes the entire vehicle perimeter, enabling complex maneuvering in congested, mixed-traffic zones for the largest haulers in the most complex operating environments.

"With the launch of Pronto Editions, we are declaring the end of the 'sensor wars'," added Levandowski. "We don't use Lidar because we can't do Vision; we use Lidar where it’s the right physics to solve specific customer problems."

Availability

The first deployments of Pronto AHS VLR 360 are already underway in production mining environments. The VLR Editions retain Pronto’s signature OEM agnosticism, capable of retrofitting any haul truck platform, including the industry’s largest haulers, such as the Komatsu 980 and Caterpillar 798.

About Pronto

Pronto is Autonomy Simplified. Founded by Silicon Valley pioneers who have been at the forefront of the most important advances in autonomous vehicles and robotics for the last two decades, Pronto AHS is designed to be the simplest, fastest to deploy, and most cost-effective solution in the mining and quarrying markets. Learn more at www.pronto.ai.

Fonte: Business Wire