California-based Cyngn has announced that its autonomous DriveMod Forklift has completed its first paid autonomous deployment at a customer facility.
It marks an important milestone in the commercialisation of the next vehicle in Cyngn's Enterprise Autonomy Suite (EAS) portfolio.
Built with an array of safety systems, including 360° high-definition perception and Cyngn's Virtual Bumper technology, the DriveMod Forklift safely navigates dynamic environments while attaining precision.
Details on this customer's forklift use case are being kept confidential at this time, but this achievement demonstrates the DriveMod Forklift's capability to execute the work required at a large customer facility.
This milestone sets up the critical next steps of commercialisation for the DriveMod Forklift, which include building and selling additional units in preparation for integration into this customer's operations, which is targeted for the first half of 2025.
"This is one of the few machines that can autonomously accomplish entire material moving flows, from A-to-Z, without requiring human intervention," said Ben Landen, VP of Business Development at Cyngn.
"This means that the market for autonomous forklifts is among the largest in comparison to other material handling vehicles, and we've carved out a differentiated niche by targeting heavy loads on non-standard pallets.
"This achievement allows us to validate and showcase the forklift's capabilities in real-world, high-throughput settings that capture significant value for our customer."
The DriveMod Forklift leverages advanced AI and proprietary computer vision to analyse pallet stack and pocket dimensions in real time, enabling the precise handling of loads over 10,000 lbs (4,545 kg) and elevating productivity.
Customers can control the DriveMod Forklift via Cyngn Insight, the Company's sleek fleet management system that enables real-time vehicle monitoring, operational analytics, and centralized mission planning.
The DriveMod Forklift has a history of successful technological and commercial advancement. In the fall of 2022, Cyngn announced that it had signed a contract with a building materials manufacturer to begin development.
By the summer of 2023, Cyngn revealed the first footage of the autonomous forklift and soon followed up with an announcement that the building manufacturer, Arauco, had pre-ordered 100 DriveMod Forklifts.