Toyota's new automated Core Tow Tractor and Centre-Controlled Rider

Toyota Material Handling (TMH) has announced two new automated guided vehicles (AGVs) that add the latest in automation technology to existing Toyota products. Toyota claims its new Centre-Controlled Rider Automated Forklift and Core Tow Tractor Automated Forklift will transform how customers meet their manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution challenges. "When customers choose to work with Toyota, they gain more than just an automation partner. They get a full-line materials handling solutions provider capable of meeting all their materials handling challenges," says Bill Finerty, TMH senior vice president of sales. The Centre-Controlled Rider Automated Forklift and Core Tow Tractor Automated Forklift can each be manually operated when needed but are also powered by light detection and ranging (LIDAR) natural features navigation. Both products require little or no additional infrastructure or setup and can be integrated into customers' existing operations safely, seamlessly and efficiently. The new additions are designed to position and manoeuvre with accuracy, offering accuracy tolerance ranges as narrow as a half-inch (1.2 cm). Toyota automated forklifts accomplish this by utilising advanced sensors that also prompt the vehicle to slow or stop when an unmapped object is detected in its path. They are engineered to detect mapped structures behind objects, meaning an errant pallet or object will not interrupt normal operation.