Steer signs first North American customer as demand builds for its Next Generation Autonomous Haulage model
Norwegian driverless haulage specialist Steer has signed its first customer in North America, alongside two of Europe’s largest limestone producers, as demand builds for what the company calls Next Generation Autonomous Haulage – a low-cost, centrally supported operating model designed specifically for quarries, an industry facing mounting pressure on staffing and margins.
The North American project will involve deployment of a mixed fleet of autonomous Cat and Komatsu haul trucks at its operations in the region. Rollout is scheduled for 2027.
For the first of the major European limestone producers – a fleet of Cat and Komatsu machines in Eastern Europe will be put into production in Q1 2027. Each truck is fitted with on-board Starlink for communication, layered with a proprietary system for security and continuity.
The second large limestone producer signing for Steer AHS will see an autonomous fleet of Cat and Volvo machines put to work in Germany in 2027. The site adds a further technical challenge: autonomous haulage in a GNSS-denied environment, requiring Steer’s positioning system to operate without reliable satellite coverage.
In Germany, the autonomous Cat 772G projects announced last October are on track for commissioning in Q3 2026.
Alongside ongoing European core quarry projects, Steer says it has continued to deliver the remote-controlled and specialist work that has long been part of its offering. This year that has included a Volvo wheel loader solution operating underground in northern Sweden for Boliden, as well as a project in Saudi Arabia that is currently progressing on an extended timeline.
A remote-controlled Cat D6 has also been delivered for use on land reclamation in southern Europe, and Steer has undertaken several unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance projects for armed forces and private operators across Europe over the past year.
Going forward, Steer’s focus is mainly on quarries – a global market Steer sees as both enormous and under acute pressure, as operators struggle to recruit and retain skilled drivers while margins tighten.
“Quarrying is a market that badly needs a solution to the staffing problem, and one that actually improves the bottom line rather than just adding technology for its own sake. That’s the market we’re built for,” says Njål Gjermundshaug, CEO of Steer.
Across its sites, Steer’s autonomous trucks are running near-continuously in live quarry environments in Europe. Some sites operate 18/7, others run day or night shifts, and others put in as little as 1,000 hours a year. All operations are supported remotely from Steer’s team in Norway, with no local control rooms required.
Combined with a cost per tonne well below other autonomous haulage systems, Steer says this model – which it calls Next Generation Autonomous Haulage – is starting to disrupt a global quarry market that has, until now, run almost entirely on manned haulage.
Additionally, the company recently launched a Collision Avoidance System (CAS), fully integrated into its autonomous stack, enabling safe mixed traffic between autonomous and manned equipment. Steer has also released a new version of its fleet management system, Steer Bedrock, purpose-built for quarrying operations and gradually approaching the capability of more established FMS platforms such as Cat MineStar and Komatsu FrontRunner.
Steer is also finalising work to ensure compliance with the EU’s new Machinery Regulation, which comes into force in January 2027.
Steer remains fully owned by its employees and the Gjermundshaug family, and has grown its order book on positive cash flow alone. To fund the next stage of growth, the company told IM that it is now preparing its first external equity round, while working to scale the organisation without losing the culture that got it here.
Steer will also be present at the Steinexpo event in Homberg, Germany, September 2-5, with a 110 m² stand, where it will live-stream footage from quarries where its trucks are running autonomously. The company will also use the show to unveil a new 3D simulator for its AHS.
The post Steer signs first North American customer as demand builds for its Next Generation Autonomous Haulage model appeared first on International Mining.