Hitachi, Pronto sign MoU for mine automation solutions. The companies aim to provide automation solutions to help mining operators tackle operational issues. 16th Jul 2026 Hitachi Construction Machinery and Pronto have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a strategic collaboration to develop open automation solutions for the mining industry. The companies plan to deliver automation options to help mining customers address operational challenges and adapt to changing business conditions. The agreement seeks to address increasing industry demand for practical, scalable solutions that improve both productivity and safety amid widespread labour shortages. Open automation platforms, which can be flexibly implemented with equipment and technologies from various manufacturers, are seen by the companies as essential for avoiding over-reliance on a single technology provider or proprietary ecosystem. Hitachi Construction Machinery, which provides mining equipment globally and maintains a large customer base, is planning to rebrand to LANDCROS from April 2027. The company has stated that it is pursuing an approach focused on openly connecting products, technologies and partners as part of this transition. Pronto, which supplies autonomous haulage systems that can be retrofitted to existing haul trucks regardless of manufacturer, has reported commercial deployments of its technology in mixed-fleet operations across three continents. Its systems are designed to accommodate different operational scales, from regional quarries to ultra-class, deep-pit mines. Pronto CEO Anthony Levandowski said: "Mine operators have been clear: they want automation that works with the fleets they already own, not another closed, single-vendor ecosystem. "Pronto has proven OEM [original equipment manufacturer]-agnostic autonomous haulage at commercial scale, and Hitachi Construction Machinery brings decades of mining equipment leadership, a global customer base and an open autonomy vision that we share. "Together, we can give every mining operation a practical, affordable path to autonomy." Both companies intend to combine their respective strengths in mining equipment, digital solutions and automation technologies through this partnership. Their goal is to offer mining operators a wider choice of automation solutions that are adaptable to specific site requirements, while supporting broader sector efforts to improve efficiency, safety and operational flexibility. In April 2026, Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) delivered its EX2600-7E ultra-large electric excavator to mining operator Rudnik uglja Pljevlja in northern Montenegro. Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights.

Pronto and Hitachi Construction Machinery enter strategic partnership to advance open mine automation solutions. Business Wire Published Jul 15, 2026 Article content SAN FRANCISCO & TOKYO - Pronto and Hitachi Construction Machinery have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership aimed at advancing open mine automation solutions. Through this partnership, the two companies aim to deliver automation solutions that provide customers with a broader range of options to address challenges such as improving mining operations and adapting to changing business environments. Article content Mining companies are increasingly seeking practical and scalable solutions that help improve productivity and safety while also addressing labor shortages. In particular, they are looking for open automation solutions that can be flexibly deployed according to the operating conditions of each mine, while making use of existing equipment and technologies from different manufacturers and avoiding excessive dependence on a single technology platform or vendor ecosystem. Hitachi Construction Machinery and Pronto share the view that meeting these expectations requires an open ecosystem that brings together expertise in mining operations, mining equipment, digital technologies, and automation technologies, enabling solutions to be flexibly adapted to the specific needs of each mine. Article content Advertisement 1 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The partnership will combine the strengths of both companies. Pronto is the global leader in OEM-agnostic Autonomous Haulage Systems (AHS). Its industry-first tiered AHS portfolio retrofits onto existing haul trucks from any manufacturer and scales from regional quarries to ultra-class, deep-pit operations. Pronto's systems have autonomously hauled millions of tons in commercial mixed-fleet operations, with production deployments spanning three continents. The company's mission is to make autonomous haulage practical, affordable, and available to every mining operation worldwide. Article content Top Stories Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Article content Hitachi Construction Machinery has long supported mining operations around the world through the provision of mining equipment and brings deep expertise in mining operations, together with a global customer base. Looking ahead to its planned transition to the LANDCROS brand in April 2027, Hitachi Construction Machinery is promoting co-creation by openly connecting products, technologies, and partners to deliver new value to customers. Article content By combining their expertise in mining operations, mining equipment, and automation technologies, the two companies aim to create new value for mining customers. Article content "Mine operators have been clear: they want automation that works with the fleets they already own, not another closed, single-vendor ecosystem. Pronto has proven OEM-agnostic autonomous haulage at commercial scale, and Hitachi Construction Machinery brings decades of mining equipment leadership, a global customer base, and an open autonomy vision that we share. Together, we can give every mining operation a practical, affordable path to autonomy." Article content Comment from Masafumi Senzaki, Hitachi Construction Machinery President and Executive Officer Article content "For decades, we have worked alongside mining customers around the world and have developed a deep understanding of their diverse needs and the challenges they face. Through our collaboration with Pronto, we will combine Hitachi Construction Machinery's equipment expertise with advanced automation technologies to provide customers with greater flexibility and options in adopting automation solutions. This partnership represents an important step in realizing the desire embodied in the "O" of LANDCROS - to openly co-create new businesses and value with customers and partners across the mining industry, and to grow together." Article content Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content About Pronto Article content Pronto is the core technology engine of Atoms Mining, a division of Atoms, the physical AI company founded by Travis Kalanick. Pronto builds the mining industry's leading OEM-agnostic Autonomous Haulage System: a physics-first, tiered portfolio that retrofits onto existing haul trucks and scales from regional quarries to ultra-class operations. Pronto's mission is to make autonomous haulage practical, affordable, and available to every mining operation - deploying purpose-built, gainfully employed robots to take on mining's most essential and dangerous work. Learn more at www.pronto.ai and www.atoms.co. Article content About Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. Article content Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6305), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a construction machinery manufacturer that globally deploys development, manufacturing, sales, and service businesses for its hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, compaction equipment, and mining machinery, etc. In addition to its new machinery business, Hitachi Construction Machinery is expanding its "value chain businesses" of parts and services, remanufacturing (parts and machines), rentals, and used equipment as it continues to grow together with customers as a solutions provider that offers innovative solutions to customers. With roughly 25,000 employees around the world, the consolidated sales revenue for Hitachi Construction Machinery was 1,405.5 billion yen for fiscal year 2025 (ended March 2026) with an overseas sales revenue ratio of 84%. For more details, please see the company's website. Article content The company plans to change its trade name to "LANDCROS Corporation" and its corporate brand to "LANDCROS" on April 1, 2027. Article content View source version on businesswire.com: Article content Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet.

Exclusive: Mariana Minerals taps Pronto to help automate a copper mine |. There is a lot of attention on domestic manufacturing in the United States these days. But for Turner Caldwell, who spent nearly a decade at Tesla, there's not enough attention on the minerals and metals that sit at the very bottom of the supply chain. It's why he left Tesla and started Mariana Minerals in 2024. The purpose of his startup is to become a modern mining (and refining) operation that is set up for growth, because Caldwell has essentially one goal: bring more refined metal into the ecosystem. To do that, his company is trying to automate almost every aspect of a mining operation imaginable. The latest piece is vehicles. On Thursday, Mariana Minerals announced a partnership with Pronto, a startup that's developed self-driving systems for haulage trucks and other off-road vehicles used at construction and mining sites. It's the first deal that Pronto has struck since being acquired by Atoms, the new robotics venture run by Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick. The acquisition reunites Kalanick with Pronto founder Anthony Levandowski, the former star Google self-driving project engineer and controversial entrepreneur behind Otto, which Uber acquired in 2016. The partnership with Pronto will see autonomous haulage trucks begin operating next week at Copper One, a formerly idled copper mine in Utah that Mariana purchased last year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But the partnership is about more than just having autonomous trucks operating onsite, Caldwell told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview. Pronto's autonomy system will be directly integrated into the software Mariana has developed to run operations at the mine, which it calls "MineOS." That will make it possible to autonomously dispatch the trucks and coordinate their routes without a human in the loop, he said. This is part of Caldwell's broader vision for how a mine should be run going forward. It involves multiple operating systems that use reinforcement learning to automate and, eventually, coordinate operations across the entire mine. Techcrunch event San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026 "The big Western mining companies look exactly like Ford and GM before Tesla. They look a lot like NASA before SpaceX. They look a lot like the big defense primes before Anduril," he said. "The rate at which software is up-taken and technology is up-taken into the space is fundamentally set by the operating teams who don't really have incentive to change how they operate, right? If they're able to make their KPIs, you know, the spreadsheets, the walkie talkies, the paper reporting - it works just fine." In Caldwell's view, this limits a mine's output and leaves obvious efficiencies on the table. But he also thinks it's existential. "Because Western mining companies don't build a lot of net new infrastructure, the talent pool hasn't been actively attracted to it, and so the labor force is diminishing," he said. That means mines are going to be stuck trying to do more with less. Caldwell sees Mariana's software-first approach as the solution to this problem. That could be good for Mariana, clearly. But if the approach is successful, it could also benefit other mines. Selling Mariana's coordination software is on the table, especially once it's proven out, Caldwell said. But Caldwell said he was not interested in doing that from the start. The "core business should be selling metal," he said. "The company is the coordination layer. And so, if you're doing that, like, at that point, you might as well go and vertically integrate, and go down into making the metal, instead of just selling software," he said. "I think SpaceX would not be a very large company selling [rocket] re-landing software to NASA." Plus, owning and running the mine is crucial to the reinforcement learning loop, Caldwell said - not just because it allows for better control and higher-fidelity data, but also because it could eventually help inform decisions that are hard for humans to see right now. Caldwell likened this to how AlphaGo, the chess-playing software developed by DeepMind a decade ago, began making moves humans hadn't considered once it had trained on enough data. Despite all this talk of automation, Caldwell said he's not trying to remove humans from mining operations. Like many other founders working in the sector, he believes Mariana will actually expand that already winnowing talent pool. "Part of this is a labor cost reduction, but that's not really the goal," he said. "The goal is actually enabling more productivity with the constrained labor pool that we have. Automation, and autonomy, is going to create more jobs, because we will have more mines that are operating."