Autonomous mining trucks: how Breton improved connectivity and safety with the SENCITY® Road MULTI antenna

The use of self-driving vehicles is already improving safety and productivity in mines, reducing the amount of workforce required to operate in potentially dangerous conditions. There isn’t just a safety benefit either – by reducing the number of human operators on-site, businesses can reduce their labour costs and general expenditure. 

As of 2025, there were approximately 3,842 autonomous and remotely controlled mining trucks used worldwide, and Breton are one such company developing them. Since 2018, the Chinese manufacturer has been carrying out research and pilot projects in autonomous driving, gradually establishing an independent technology stack including drive-by-wire chassis systems, environmental perception, vehicle control, and mine-site dispatching.

Our SENCITY® Road MULTI antenna is regarded within the industry for its capacity to host multiple applications within a single solution. Designed for commercial vehicles such as buses and trucks, it has a rugged design perfectly suited for harsh conditions found in mining and other highly intensive applications.

Through the antenna, state-of-the-art 4X4 MIMO wireless modules can be deployed, including the latest cellular frequencies, as well as up to 8X8 MIMO for Wi-Fi applications. It also features outstanding radio frequency performance, with up to 54 different variants combined of cellular (TETRA to 5G), Wi-Fi (including 6E) and GNSS radiators, with an option for Dual Band.

As such, the SENCITY® Road MULTI antenna is capable of transferring the higher data rates required for effective vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, autonomous driving, and maintenance essential for optimal performance in mining. This made it a suitable solution for the requirements laid out by Breton for their new autonomous vehicle. It’s rugged design also meant it would work effectively in mining environments characterised by heavy dust, complex lighting conditions and highly unstructured terrain. As a result, the Breton vehicles benefitted from enhanced connectivity, transmitting precise and reliable environmental data for key tasks such as loading and unloading positioning, road-boundary recognition, and obstacle detection.

In November 2025, Breton officially released its new autonomous vehicle models. As of January 2026, 54 autonomous mining trucks fitted with HUBER+SUHNER SENCITY® Road MULTI antennas have been delivered to Xinjiang Mingyang Mining and Chengde Jianlong Mining, with an additional 30 trucks expected to be delivered to China Energy in Shanxi. 

Autonomous driving is no longer considered a luxury feature, but the next-generation of mining equipment and electrification. Through this project, Breton and HUBER+SUHNER have demonstrated the ability of the SENCITY® Road MULTI antenna to deliver these capabilities in heavy-duty applications, paving the way for its widespread adoption: not just in mining, but other operations too.