Croatian AMR technology company Gideon has signed a strategic investment agreement with Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO), including Toyota Material Handling Group and Toyota Automated Logistics Group, to develop new automated solutions.

For TICO the strategic partnership and investment creates possibilities to simplify automated vehicle systems through standardisation, reduced deployment times and increasing flexibility, adaptability and scalability. 

TICO says its global autonomous vehicle software house, T-Hive, “will have a leading role to apply and leverage Gideon’s technology within specific areas of TICO’s global automated vehicle portfolio”.

In a statement, Gideon said its software architecture and artificial intelligence algorithms will further strengthen TICO’s capabilities in the automation of vehicles. 

“Collaborative case picking for retail order fulfilment, as well as truck unloading and loading, are examples of specific applications that Gideon currently offers to its customers,” the statement continues.

Toyota Industries Corporation senior executive officer Norio Wakabayashi adds: “Gideon has developed impressive vision modules enabling flexible, intelligent autonomous behaviour and user and deployment friendliness that will provide added value for our customers in the coming years”. “TICO already holds a strong position in automated vehicles, but this strategic investment underlines our commitment to delivering market leading mobile automation,” Wakabayashi states.