Fangzheng Securities: First Easy Control Smart Driving (07687) “Highly Recommended” Rating to Accelerate Commercialization of Driverless Cars in Mining Areas

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Fangzheng Securities released a research report stating that it covered Easy Control Smart Driving (07687) for the first time and gave it a “highly recommended” rating. The bank believes that driverless driving in mining areas is moving from demonstration applications to large-scale commercial implementation, and that production safety, cost reduction and efficiency, and policy support are jointly driving the increase in industry penetration. As a leading driverless driver in domestic mining areas, the company has a first-mover advantage in terms of fleet size, market share and project operation experience. The bank gave the above rating considering the continuous increase in the penetration rate of the unmanned mining card industry, the transformation of the company's business model to asset-light, and the continuous expansion of application scenarios.

The main views of Fangzheng Securities are as follows:

Deeply cultivate driverless driving in open pit mines and provide self-owned fleets and customer vehicle supply models

Established in 2018, the company is a leading driverless mining company in China. It mainly provides driverless mining card solutions, fleet scheduling and operation services for mining companies and transportation contractors. The company entered the market with a self-owned fleet model in 2020, covering vehicle purchase, depreciation and operation and maintenance costs, mainly based on transportation volume; in 2023, it introduced a vehicle supply model for customers, where mining companies or transportation contractors can purchase and rent mining cards themselves, and can also purchase complete vehicles from the company. The company mainly provides driverless systems, software deployment and continuous operation services. The revenue sources include vehicle sales and service fees. As of June 30, 2026, the company has served 38 mines, an increase of 12 over the previous year; more than 3,100 unmanned mining trucks are in operation, which has nearly doubled from 1,600 in the same period in 2025. Among them, the customer supply model is about 2,500, and the self-owned fleet model is about 600.

The share of customer vehicle supply model revenue continues to rise, and asset-light transformation drives improved profitability

The company continues to shift to an asset-light model. The proportion of customer vehicle supply model revenue from 2023 to 2025 was 41.7%, 46.0% and 56.8%, respectively. In 2025, the company achieved revenue of 1,435 billion yuan, an increase of 45.5% over the previous year, of which the customer vehicle supply model contributed 815 million yuan in revenue, including 571 million yuan in vehicle sales and 244 million yuan in service fees. The customer vehicle supply model does not have to bear the cost of vehicle ownership and daily maintenance, and the gross margin is significantly higher than the self-owned fleet model. In 2025, the gross margin of the two models was 16.0% and 1.5% respectively; in the first half of 2026, the share of customer vehicle supply model revenue increased further to 65.6%, driving the company's comprehensive gross margin to an increase of 17.2 percentage points to 18.9% year-on-year. As customer vehicle supply models continue to penetrate, the company's business focus is gradually shifting from vehicle asset operation to driverless technology and service export, and revenue structure optimization is expected to drive continuous improvement in gross margin.

Driven by the demand for production safety and cost reduction and efficiency, driverless cars in mining areas have entered the large-scale application stage

Transportation routes in open pit mining areas are relatively fixed and operating procedures are standardized, which provides favorable conditions for large-scale application of unmanned driving. Driverless driving can reduce production safety, reduce costs and increase efficiency by reducing staffing in high-risk positions, optimizing fleet scheduling, and improving vehicle utilization. In terms of policy, seven departments proposed that by 2026, the country's coal mines will account for no less than 60% of intelligent production capacity, and that the replacement rate of intelligent equipment or robots for dangerous and heavy jobs will not be less than 30%. According to Frost & Sullivan estimates, domestic unmanned mining card sales and ownership penetration rates were 12.1% and 4.4% respectively in 2025, and are expected to rise to 52.1% and 41.3% in 2030. New vehicle support and fleet modifications will jointly drive industry growth. The domestic mining driverless solutions market is expected to increase from 3.8 billion yuan in 2025 to 22.3 billion yuan in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 42.5%; the global market size is expected to increase from 1 billion US dollars to 7.3 billion US dollars during the same period.

Large-scale operation of coal mines establishes a first-mover advantage, and opens up room for growth in metal mines and overseas markets

According to Frost & Sullivan estimates, in 2025, the company's market share based on the number of active unmanned mining cards in China and solution revenue was 55.5% and 37.6% respectively, ranking first in the industry. By the end of 2025, out of 41 open pit coal mines with an annual production capacity of over 10 million tons, 19 had adopted company plans, and large-scale deployment had accumulated experience in fleet scheduling, mixed operation, and on-site operation and maintenance. As of September 2026, the company has deployed more than 3,800 unmanned mining cards in more than 40 mines, and 7 rigid mining cards in the Baiyinhua project have achieved unmanned normal operation, verifying cross-model adaptability. In terms of metal mining, the company has served 5 domestic projects in the first half of 2026. Zijin Mining (02899)'s Zibula copper mine achieved unmanned operation; overseas, the first batch of 6 unmanned mining cards from Norton Jintian in Western Australia has already been put into actual production. The bank believes that the large-scale operating capacity accumulated by the company in the coal mining sector is expected to be replicated in metal mines and overseas, driving continuous business growth.

Risk Alerts

The increase in driverless penetration in mining areas fell short of expectations; capital expenditure and customer demand of mining companies fell short of expectations; increased industry competition and improvement in gross margin fell short of expectations; and the expansion of metal mines and overseas markets fell short of expectations.