The importance of LHD (Load Haul Dump) machines in most mine operating systems is evident today. The cost of operation and maintenance is one of the challenges, while high availability and reliability are others. The latter will be increasingly important when automatic LHD machines are used more frequently. A key factor for automated LHD system is the planned maintenance process, as all corrective maintenance or accidental break-downs rapidly deteriorate the production system where operators are not present and maintenance personnel not available on short notice. A challenge for manufacturers is to improve the engineering design of their machine and related components (hydraulic systems etc) so as to make them more reliable and also making the machine easy to maintain. The demands on the overall communication systems and new and higher competence and skills needs on operation and maintenance personnel are a few factors that make many mines reluctant to the higher investments in Automated LHD systems. This paper reports some experiences with automated LHD machines in Scandinavia and the rest of the world and examines some of the issues that make the application of automatic LHD machines restricted by large operators and prohibitive by small mines. It also deals with the maintenance aspects of automated LHD systems and provides some initial considerations from a major Scandinavian research project in the field.