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Where the rules stand: autonomous mining standards and regulation, late 2026

11 minutes ago
10 min read

By: OpenAutonomy.com Editorial Team


The international standards that define autonomous mining held steady this year. The regulators did not. A status check on the instruments that matter, what changed in 2026, and what lands next.


A year ago, a status check on autonomous mining’s rulebook would have been short: a handful of ISO standards, guidance from the Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG), and a Western Australian code of practice that operators well beyond Western Australia treat as a reference. That list has not shrunk. What changed in 2026 is who is doing the writing.

The international standards held still. ISO 23725 and ISO 17757 are where they were a year ago, and neither comes up for its next review until around 2029. Three regulators moved. China’s revised coal mine safety rules came into force in February with specific requirements for driverless trucks. Western Australia folded autonomous systems into a new traffic management code in August. The EU’s cyber reporting duties went live in September, and its new machinery rules apply from January.

A pattern runs through those changes: regulators are starting to specify what must connect to what, without saying how. We come back to that at the end.

This piece is a reference. For each instrument: what it is, where it stands as of November 2026, and what to check.


At a glance

Instrument

What it covers

Status, November 2026

What changed in 2026

ISO 23725:2024

Interface between fleet management and autonomous haulage, surface mining

First edition, published August 2024

No change

ISO 17757:2019

Safety of autonomous and semi-autonomous machine systems

Reviewed and confirmed in 2024

No change

ISO 21815-3:2023

Collision warning and avoidance, forward and reverse motion

Published August 2023

No change

GMG implementation guideline, v2

Planning and deploying autonomous systems

Published July 2024; four-year revision cycle

No change

EMESRT vehicle interaction model

Nine levels of vehicle interaction control

Model in use since 2015

No autonomy-specific change

Western Australia

Autonomous code; road and traffic management code

Autonomous code (2015) republished Feb 2025; traffic code published Aug 2026

Traffic code adds a section on autonomous systems

Queensland and New South Wales

State guidance on introducing autonomous machinery

QGN 33 (Jan 2022, coal mines); NSW guideline (Sept 2020)

No change

British Columbia

Autonomous Mining Project Management Plan before use

In the Code since November 2022

Code revised June 2026; other topics

United States (MSHA)

Written safety program for surface mobile equipment

Enforced since July 2024; covers autonomous vehicles

No autonomy-specific rule

China

Coal Mine Safety Regulations; coal five-year plan

Regulations in force since 1 Feb 2026

Driverless truck requirements; 75% intelligent capacity target by 2030

EU Cyber Resilience Act

Vulnerability and incident reporting for digital products

Reporting duties live since 11 Sep 2026

Reporting began

EU Machinery Regulation

Machinery safety, including autonomous mobile machinery

Applies from 20 Jan 2027

None yet; applies January 2027


International standards

ISO 23725:2024: fleet management and autonomous haulage interoperability

ISO 23725 defines the interface between a fleet management system (FMS) and an autonomous haulage system (AHS) in surface mining: dispatch, mine map sharing, telemetry, production monitoring and the messages that carry them. It was published in August 2024 and is still in its first edition. Two scope limits matter more each year. The standard does not address authentication, authorisation or cybersecurity, and it leaves the requirements for safely executing the tasks an FMS assigns to be agreed between the FMS and AHS suppliers.

What to check: whether a supplier’s claim of ISO 23725 support covers the messages your site actually needs. Our October piece on verification sets out what a buyer can ask for.


ISO 17757:2019: safety of autonomous and semi-autonomous machine systems

ISO 17757 sets safety requirements for autonomous and semi-autonomous earth-moving and mining machines and the systems and infrastructure around them, surface and underground, across the machine and system life cycle. ISO reviewed and confirmed it in 2024, so the 2019 edition stands. It excludes remote control, which ISO 15817 covers. Regulatory guidance cites it directly: British Columbia’s guideline on autonomous mining, for one, points to it alongside ISO 12100.

What to check: that the safety case for a multi-vendor site states which party meets which ISO 17757 requirement. The standard treats the autonomous system as one system; a multi-vendor site splits it across several suppliers.


ISO 21815: collision warning and avoidance

The ISO 21815 series sets requirements for collision warning and collision avoidance systems on earth-moving and underground mining machines. Part 3, published in August 2023, covers forward and reverse motion, and avoids collisions by slowing, stopping or inhibiting motion rather than by steering. It is written for machines with an operator: the system assists, and responsibility for safe operation stays with the person driving. That makes it the standard for the human-operated half of a mixed fleet. It does not apply to systems installed or manufactured before its publication.

What to check: whether the collision avoidance on your human-operated machines and the object detection on your autonomous fleet are designed to recognise each other, or only to coexist.


Industry guidance

GMG Guideline for the Implementation of Autonomous Systems in Mining, version 2

GMG published version 2 of its implementation guideline in July 2024, replacing the 2019 original. It is organised around six areas: the business case, change management, health, safety and risk management, regulatory engagement, operational readiness, and deployment. Operational readiness and deployment, combined in the 2019 edition, are now separate and expanded sections, and version 2 adds guidance on cybersecurity and lifecycle costs. It now addresses underground as well as surface operations. It sits alongside GMG’s guidelines on functional safety (2020) and applying system safety in autonomous mining (2024). The implementation guideline carries a four-year revision cycle, which points to a next version around 2028. Like all GMG guidelines, it is non-prescriptive.

What to check: that your project plan has a named owner for each of the six areas, including the two that version 2 expanded.


EMESRT vehicle interaction controls

EMESRT, the Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table, is a group of mining companies that works with equipment manufacturers on how machines are designed. Its nine-level model of vehicle interaction controls, introduced in 2015, puts site, people and equipment controls in levels 1 to 7, advisory technology at level 8 and intervention, where the system acts without waiting for the operator, at level 9. Its focus is vehicle interaction controls rather than autonomy as such.

What to check: where your autonomous fleet’s safety functions and your human-operated fleet’s collision avoidance each sit on those nine levels. Intervention on one side and advice on the other is an asymmetry worth understanding before an incident explains it.


Regulators

Western Australia

Western Australia’s code of practice, Safe mobile autonomous mining in Western Australia, dates from 2015 and was republished in February 2025; it was issued under the Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994 and continues in force under the WHS Act’s transitional arrangements. The bigger 2026 change sits in a different document. WA’s new code, Road and traffic management at Western Australian mines, approved under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 and published in August 2026, now includes a section on mobile autonomous systems. It expects mine operators to show the regulator, through high-risk mining activity notification, that autonomy fits their mine safety management system. It lists operational risks to assess, including access to autonomous operating zones; overwatering that leads to loss of traction, emergency braking and loss of control; separation of light vehicles; and access to and recovery of autonomous vehicles. It asks that autonomy be built into mine design, information technology and operational technology systems as early as possible. The same code says mine operators must consider collision avoidance technology as a control for traffic hazards or give reasons for not using it.

What to check: read the two codes together. The autonomous code still refers to approvals under the repealed 1994 Act, while the traffic code is written for the WHS Act 2020 and its 2022 mines regulations. Where they differ, the newer code reflects the current law.


Queensland and New South Wales

Neither state has a code of practice specific to autonomy. Queensland’s mines regulator issued a guidance note on introducing autonomous mobile machinery in coal mining in January 2022 (QGN 33), drawing on the WA code. New South Wales published an autonomous mobile mining plant guideline in 2020. Neither changed in 2026.

What to check: that a site operating under Queensland or NSW law isn’t relying on the WA code alone. The guidance in those states sits under different legislation.


British Columbia

Since November 2022, British Columbia’s Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines has required an Autonomous Mining Project Management Plan, submitted to the chief inspector of mines, before autonomous or semi-autonomous mobile equipment is used. The Code also requires safe work procedures for entering autonomous operating areas, clearing and restarting operations, and switching machines between autonomous and manual modes. The Code’s 2026 revision, in force since 22 June, covered bullying and harassment, roles and responsibilities, occupational health, off-road vehicles, electrical safety and exploration. Elsewhere in Canada the picture varies: Ontario has no standalone autonomous code, and Alberta handles autonomous mining through approval by the provincial director under its occupational health and safety code.

What to check: that mode-switching procedures cover every supplier’s machines on site. A mixed fleet can have more than one way of handing a machine between autonomous and manual control.


United States

There is still no autonomy-specific federal rule. MSHA’s Safety Program for Surface Mobile Equipment rule, effective since January 2024 and enforced since July 2024, requires a written safety program for surface mobile equipment, and MSHA’s own guidance confirms that it applies to autonomous vehicles. The program must identify and evaluate currently available and newly emerging feasible technologies, and be updated at least annually or when equipment is added or modified. MSHA reviews programs during inspections rather than approving them.

What to check: whether your written program treats autonomy software updates as equipment modifications that trigger a review.


China

China’s revised Coal Mine Safety Regulations, published by the Ministry of Emergency Management in July 2025, came into force on 1 February 2026 with unusually specific requirements for autonomous equipment at open-pit coal mines. Remotely operated and driverless equipment must have status monitoring, monitoring of surrounding people, equipment and environment, fault detection, automatic avoidance and emergency stop. Driverless truck operations need a satellite-positioning dispatch system with a one-button emergency stop and real-time communication between the dispatch room and the trucks. Command vehicles and auxiliary equipment in driverless operating areas must carry an interaction terminal, keep it switched on, and stay at least 30 metres from driverless trucks while driving; vehicles without a terminal may not enter. Driverless trucks are capped at 40 km/h, and at 30 km/h at intersections and where trajectories cross within 30 metres. In August, the NDRC and National Energy Administration’s coal industry plan for 2026 to 2030 set a target of 75 per cent intelligent coal mine capacity by 2030. A mandatory national standard on safety requirements for open-pit autonomous haulage systems, proposed by the National Mine Safety Administration, is in development and covers mixed human-operated and driverless operation.

What to check: the terminal requirement mandates a connection between every vehicle that enters a driverless area and the autonomous fleet without saying how it works, and the draft national standard is a safety standard, not an interface specification. A site with more than one autonomy supplier needs to know whose terminal satisfies the rule, and whether one terminal can serve several fleets.


European Union

Two EU instruments now bear on autonomous mining equipment placed on the EU market. The Cyber Resilience Act’s reporting duties have applied since 11 September 2026: manufacturers of products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities and severe incidents, including for products placed on the market before the act’s main obligations apply in December 2027. From December 2027, a manufacturer that finds a vulnerability in a component it has integrated must also report it to whoever maintains that component. The Machinery Regulation replaces the Machinery Directive from 20 January 2027 and, for the first time, addresses autonomous mobile machinery, including a supervisory function through which a supervisor can stop the machine, restart it in autonomous mode or bring it to a safe position.

What to check: which party in your stack counts as the manufacturer of each product with digital elements. That is the party that carries the reporting duty.


What lands next

  • 20 January 2027: the EU Machinery Regulation applies.

  • 11 December 2027: the Cyber Resilience Act’s main obligations apply.

  • Around 2028: GMG’s implementation guideline reaches the end of its four-year revision cycle.

  • Around 2029: ISO 23725 and ISO 17757 come up for their next systematic reviews on ISO’s usual five-year cycle.


The gap to watch

The pattern matters more than any single date. Regulators in China and the EU are now writing requirements that only work if equipment from different suppliers can talk to each other: terminals that connect human-operated vehicles entering autonomous areas to the autonomous fleet, a supervisor able to stop each autonomous machine, reporting chains that run through every supplier’s component. ISO 23725 standardised one such connection, between fleet management and haulage. The rest are still largely agreed site by site, in contracts and interface documents. That is where the next round of standards work will be needed, and where buyers will feel the gap first.




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