CiDi, the Hong Kong-listed Chinese autonomous mining equipment maker, expects overseas deployments to grow this year as it expands beyond China, Chief Executive Albert Hu told Reuters.CiDi has equipped partially automated autonomous excavators in Australia and is preparing a larger rollout there this year, alongside efforts to land contracts in the Middle East, South America and Europe, Hu said. CiDi and rivals including Fujian-based EACON are racing to provide self-driving trucks and other mining equipment, cutting labour and fuel costs while improving safety.Beyond trucks, CiDi is readying robotic explosive-hauling and drilling machines for "very dangerous, very precise" work, Hu said. "Some of our trucks have robotic arms now," he said. "Is it a truck? Or is it a robot? We're blurring the lines between the two." Hu said CiDi can grow faster than China's autonomous mining equipment sector. He expects overseas markets to contribute a double-digit percentage of revenue next year, up from a low single-digit share.Unlike rivals that operate truck fleets, CiDi sells hardware and software directly to mine operators, leaving manufacturing to partner truck and equipment makers in what Hu called an "asset-light" model. CiDi, which went public in late 2025, saw its revenue more than double last year to 884.8mn yuan ($130.6mn). Deployments and revenue grew 374% in China, compared with roughly 73% for China's industry, Hu said.At an open-pit quarry in Jurong, Jiangsu province, owned by cement conglomerate TCC Group Holdings, 12 fully electric unmanned trucks moved across the site on Friday, recharging or autonomously hauling limestone to crushing facilities. CiDi says the fleet is the first fully electric and self-driving mining truck fleet. China leads the world in the use of autonomous mining trucks, with roughly 10% of trucks now driverless. CiDi's global fleet has grown to more than 1,700 vehicles, mostly in China, across