Lift truck maker Kion North America will manufacture and assemble the FoxBot autonomous trailer loader/unloader (ATL) product from self-driving forklift provider Fox Robotics, according to a deal announced today.
The commitment to build FoxBots at Kion’s Summerville, South Carolina, facility will help Fox to meet “a massive list of bookings” and to scale and expand its supply chain capabilities, Fox Robotics CEO and President Marin Tchakarov said in a release.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, the announcement follows news last month that retail giant Walmart would roll out 19 of Fox’ autonomous forklifts to unload pallets from trucks at four of its most modern DCs, and has bought an ownership stake in the company.
Austin, Texas-based Fox calls its FoxBot the world's first Class 1 electric, stand-up autonomous forklift. The machine is classified as an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) and is designed for load/unload operations on warehouse loading docks. Fox started selling its ATLs commercially in 2019 and recently said its installed base of FoxBot ATLs has processed nearly 3 million pallet pulls to date.
“We are at a pivotal moment in the logistics and transportation industry, where innovation is key to addressing some of the most pressing challenges we face. Specifically, in the realm of automated trailer loading and unloading, the last remaining piece of the end-to-end warehouse automation puzzle, Fox Robotics stands out by far as the dominant leader with the most robust AI/ML algorithms, tech stack, and deployed robot fleet we’ve ever seen,” Jonathan Dawley, President and CEO at KION North America, said in a release.
