CiDi, a major supplier of autonomous driving technology to China’s mining industry, has made an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to raise over US$180 million with the sale of up to 5.4 million shares. This is its second IPO attempt after a previous application in 2024 lapsed. This time it does have more heavyweights behind it including sponsors CICC, China Securities International and Ping An Securities; and five cornerstone investors, including Xiangjiang Zhicheng, Zhijia No 1 and ICBCUBS who have committed to almost 40% of the total.
CiDi plans to use the funds raised from its IPO for research and development over the next five years; and to enhance its commercialisation capabilities both domestically and internationally and to further strengthen the company’s cooperation with domestic and global clients.
In the IPO, CiDi describes itself as third in China’s autonomous truck market. It does not name competitors but the top company in terms of 2024 revenue from autonomous mining truck solutions, cited as ‘Company A’ is listed as having a 51.6% market share. This is EACON, which has over 2,000 autonomous mining trucks running. CiDi gives the second position with a 15.5% market share to ‘Company D’ which IM understands to be TAGE Idriver – one of the earliest entrants into the mining AHS market in China traditionally with a strong position on rigid trucks, unlike most of the others who are mainly focused on wide body trucks – though TAGE is now also focusing on that market. CiDi is in third with 12.9%.
One of CiDi’s claims to fame is that it delivered 56 autonomous mining trucks for a mining site in China in mixed traffic with~500 manned trucks, which it says is the world’s largest mixed-operation mining fleet. CiDi’s autonomous mining truck solution is called METAMINE, which it says automates labour-intensive mining operations by integrating its proprietary algorithms with widely-used intelligent driving hardware for commercial vehicles, enabling autonomous operation and remote monitoring of driverless mining trucks. It adds: “A challenging but critical process in autonomous mining is deploying driverless mining trucks alongside existing human-driven vehicles at mining sites, as it is costly and often impractical to transition to fully autonomous mining operations within a short timeframe.”
It continues: “Our closed-environment autonomous mining truck solution, METAMINE, enables autonomous haulage and logistics and remote controlled excavation in mining sites and aims to enable the remote operation of other mining processes such as drilling and blasting in the future.” The METAMINE solution comprises driverless mining trucks equipped with CiDi’s proprietary autonomous truck system, realising driverless loading, haulage and unloading processes for enhanced operational efficiency; a fleet coordination module, managing loading, haulage and unloading processes in the mining area and facilitating efficient scheduling and collaboration among vehicles; a central dispatch platform, enabling monitoring and coordination of the entire mining operation; and a teleoperation station, enabling remote operation of excavators and other equipment.
For the IPO, CiDi commissioned CIC to conduct research on, provide an analysis of, and to produce the CIC Report on the commercial vehicle intelligent driving industry in China. CIC is an independent
market research and consulting company that provides industry consulting services, commercial
due diligence, and strategic consulting services to both institutional investors and corporations. CIC it says conducted both primary and secondary research. Primary research involved interviewing key
industry experts and leading industry participants. Secondary research involved analysing data
from publicly available data sources, such as National Bureau of Statistics of China and public
disclosure by relevant industry players, among others.
Based on this research, CiDi says that China’s autonomous mining truck solution industry is rapidly expanding, with it estimating that the market size reached RMB 1.9 billion in 2024, representing approximately 75.6% of the intelligent driving market within closed environments. By 2030, the market is expected to grow significantly to RMB 39.6 billion, at a CAGR of 65.3% from 2024 to 2030. In 2024, product sales accounted for approximately 34% of China’s autonomous mining truck solution market and the proportion is projected to increase to approximately 40% by 2030. The total addressable market size of China’s autonomous mining truck solution industry in 2024 was approximately RMB 550 billion
In 2024, it says the total shipment of autonomous mining trucks in China was approximately 1,400 units. This is projected to increase to approximately 5,500 units in 2026 and further to over 16,000 units in 2030. Globally, the total shipment of autonomous mining trucks was approximately 2,100 units in 2024, and is expected to increase to approximately 8,700 units in 2026 and exceed 26,000 units in 2030. In 2024, the average price of an ordinary mining truck in China is approximately RMB 1.5 million per unit, compared to over RMB 4.5 million per unit in the international market, while the average price of autonomous mining trucks in China was approximately RMB 2.5 million per unit, compared to over RMB 5.0 million per unit in the international market.
On market drivers, CiDi states: “The continuously increasing demand for coal and other resources causes excessive production in mining areas, thus overlabouring mining workers and escalating safety risks. Accidents can endanger workers and lead to mine shutdowns, disrupting production and causing significant economic losses. Autonomous mining can effectively reduce accidents caused by human error, thereby improving overall safety in mining operations.”
It adds: “Maximising extraction efficiency and managing costs have become essential for maintaining mining companies’ competitiveness. Deploying autonomous mining vehicles can significantly reduce labour and energy costs while allowing for continuous 24-hour operation, thereby improving cost efficiency for mining companies.”
It highlights that vehicle intelligence and V2X form the foundation of autonomous mining. Vehicle intelligence, powered by onboard sensors, control systems and algorithms, equips mining trucks with intelligent driving capabilities. “Meanwhile, V2X technology enables the exchange of real-time traffic information both between vehicles as well as between vehicles and road infrastructure, effectively filling the information gaps of vehicle-based autonomy and enhancing overall transportation efficiency in mining operations. The integration of vehicle intelligence and V2X technologies drives the commercialisation of autonomous mining truck solutions in China.”
Finally, CiDi points out that the Chinese government is continuously introducing policies and mandates that provide strong policy support as well as quantitative targets and timelines for autonomous mining implementation to enhance mining safety and efficiency. For example, the ‘Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Intelligent Coal Mines,’ issued by the NDRC and seven other ministries, stipulate that large coal mines and those with severe hazards should achieve basic intelligentisation by 2025, and all types of coal mines should reach this goal by 2035. Directives by the National Mine Safety Supervision Bureau stipulates that the proportion of intelligent coal mine production capacity should reach at least 60% nationally by 2026. Additionally, the government is setting increasingly stringent safety requirements for mining operations. These policies and mandates drive substantial demand for autonomous mining technologies.