The company will supply its autonomous mining trucks and related technology to MMD Group, as it seeks to cultivate the international market image credit: Bamboo Works Key Takeaways: - CiDi announced a new partnership to provide its autonomous mining trucks and related technology to Britain's MMD Group - The tie-up comes as CiDi tries to diversify beyond its home China market, where stiff competition is eroding its margins It made history last December when it became the first company to list among a new generation of Chinese autonomous mining truck makers. Now, CiDi Inc. (3881.HK) has scored another milestone with a deal that could take it beyond its home China market that currently accounts for nearly all of its revenue. While autonomous mining trucks are a tiny niche of the much larger autonomous driving sector, they are still quite large, worth 1.9 billion yuan ($278 million) in China alone last year and expected to reach about 40 billion yuan by 2030, according to third-party market data from CiDi's IPO prospectus last year. The global market is obviously much larger, which is what CiDi is eying with this new partnership. Autonomous technology is especially attractive to mining companies because it minimizes the potential for injuries and deaths of drivers and other workers when accidents occur at mines. That has translated to strong government support in China, which in 2024 issued a document emphasizing the importance of mining safety and necessity of speeding up development of unmanned mining trucks. CiDi's latest deal will see it supply its autonomous driving systems for use in MMD Group's mining equipment automation solutions. MMD will also sell CiDi's core autonomous mining trucks, along with dispatch systems and charging infrastructure, giving the Chinese company an important outlet to extend its global reach. "This partnership marks a milestone