The centre will be established in Karratha, where the infrastructure, including roundabouts and traffic lights, provides a suitable testing environment for driverless technology.

The Fortescue Future of Mobility Centre's first program will be to test an autonomous bus, similar to the bus operated by the RAC in South Perth, in the coming months.

The facility will be a partnership between the iron ore miner, the City of Karratha, and technology and research partners.

FMG CEO Elizabeth Gaines said the centre would leverage the company's success in using autonomous technology across its operations.

"We are at the forefront of this technology with our mine operations set to become the first in the world to be fully autonomous and our fleet having safely travelled over 26 million kilometres since the first autonomous truck was introduced in 2012," she said.

FMG has 109 autonomous trucks at its Christmas Creek operations, and converts around one a week to the technology.

"We are now building on our autonomous capability with the commencement of an autonomous light vehicle trial, at our Christmas Creek mine," Gaines said.

"The emergence of autonomy is one aspect in which our world is changing rapidly, and we intend to be part of the opportunities that it will represent for the mining industry, local communities such as Karratha, and beyond.

"By establishing the Fortescue Future of Mobility Centre in Karratha we will have the ability to develop, test and trial this technology, further contributing to Western Australia's position as a world leading autonomous hub.

"We'll be exploring all facets of the future of mobility including software, hardware and various forms of mobility solutions, to see where the opportunities lie."