Scania has always been one of the main references when it comes to trucks in a variety of heavy duty work fields. The AXL is their first concept that just decided to get rid of the drivers cab for a fully autonomous machine.

The AXL however, will have an external control system that will navigate it through mines. In Scania's words, they do not rely on technology that is not there yet but they are freely exploring this concept to pave the road for their future machines. Closed mining sectors are much calmer than open roads and chaotic traffic which  makes it that much easier to deploy these machines in such an environment. The truck has a very unique feature, a white light bar that surrounds it in its entirety. Its purpose is simple. It simply changes color when it detects an obstacle or human which it will then avoid. That will give peace of mind to humans working around it as no one wants a 50+ tonne machine to roll towards them with harmful intent. The AXL runs on renewable biofuel, a strategic move as all manufacturers lead towards a cleaner future. 

While we don't expect to see this technology immediately incorporated, it truly gives an insight of what these challenging work environments will look like in the future.