Toyota invests in shared autonomy forklift technology with its growth fund, Woven Capital, injecting USD27 million into Californian provider of autonomous high-reach forklifts, Third Wave Automation (TWA).

TWA says the funds will be used to expand manufacturing of its forklifts, scale its Shared Autonomy AI-platform which powers its forklifts and, “support future technology development that advances the use of autonomous forklifts in and around warehouse environments”.

TWA forklifts operate in four modes - fully autonomous, remote assist, remote operation and traditional manual operation. 

They have been designed for high-reach applications, capable of horizontal and vertical movement of payloads, and used for end-to-end applications and is powered by Shared Autonomy.

Shared Autonomy is a platform which “combines hybrid autonomous vehicles, intelligent fleet management, remote operation, and assistance capabilities to provide holistic materials handling solutions that improve over time”, TWA explains.

The platform, TWA says, requires no infrastructure upgrades and is able to integrate into existing workflows. It also uses machine learning “to ensure forklifts continue to adapt and improve over time”.

Prashant Bothra, principal of Woven Capital, is hopeful Shared Autonomy will help the warehouse sector mitigate against the current labour constraints being felt globally.

“Third Wave’s solution provides reliable automation for vertical movement and placement of goods while optimising labor efficiency, enhancing safety, and enabling data-driven improvements,” Bothra adds.