New Zealand start-up company Inro, based in Auckland, is on the threshold of producing the world's first driverless forklift for use in warehousing work.

While AGV (Automated Guided Vehicles) have been around for some time, Inro founder and Technology Development director Grant Sargent tells Forkliftaction.com News that his invention, which should be in production within a year, is quite different and can perform several tasks that cannot be done with an AGV.

He is, however, reluctant to expand on this due to commercial and legal constraints - but will reveal more on the project in a few months' time.

What is known so far is that the company is heavily funded by the New Zealand government through its Foundation for Research, Science and Technology which invests over NZD460 million (USD336 million) a year in innovation.

Sargent believes his invention will cut hourly operational costs by half and deliver substantial fuel and production efficiencies.

He estimates that the company has the potential to generate sales, mainly in export markets, of more than NZD25 million (USD18.3 million) in five years.