Autonomous mine vehicle operation

An apparatus comprising at least one processing core and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with the at least one processing core, cause the apparatus at least to:

• detect a dust condition affecting a scanner performing optical environment scanning to produce scanning data for scanning-based positioning of the autonomously operating mine vehicle at an underground worksite;
• transition the mine vehicle operating in an automatic driving mode to a dust driving mode in response to detecting the dust condition, the dust driving mode being associated with one or more control actions for autonomous operation of the mine vehicle, wherein the dust driving mode includes or defines the one or more control actions applied for limiting autonomous driving of the mine vehicle;
• control, during the dust driving mode, dead-reckoning based positioning for updating the position determined based on scanning-based positioning of the mine vehicle;
• monitor a dead-reckoning error parameter during the dust driving mode;
• in response to the dead-reckoning error parameter reaching an error threshold, control the mine vehicle to stop or reduce speed;
• and
• disable the dust driving mode in response to detecting a dust driving mode exit condition.