DC Velocity - March 2018

newsworthy
30 DC VELOCITY MARCH 2018 www.dcvelocity.com
The increased adoption of automated vehicles for material
handling has triggered escalating demand for self-driving
technology that is on track to continue through 2018, one
vendor says.
The trend is driven by the effort of man-
ufacturing and distribution facilities to seek
improvements in efficiency, safety, and profitabil-
ity, according to the report from Seegrid Corp., a
supplier of vision-guided vehicles and self-driving
pallet trucks.
Pittsburgh-based Seegrid has been adding jobs,
expanding its engineering and deployment depart-
ments, and expanding geographically into Canada
and Europe over the past year, thanks to rising
demand and a $12 million investment in 2016
by its majority shareholder, the regional grocery
chain Giant Eagle.
Demand for autonomous lift trucks in 2017
came from new customers who are adopting automation
and from expanded orders by existing users in the automo-
tive, e-commerce, and distribution sectors, the firm said.
Self-driving vehicles will continue to be a priority capital
investment for manufacturing and distribution leaders
in 2018, as the technology becomes recognized as a best
practice and large enterprise users increase their adoption
rates in pursuit of improved workflow efficiency,
Seegrid said.
The report follows a study released in June 2017
by Oxford Economics that found the industrial
truck industry—which includes automated guid-
ed vehicles (AGVs) and other automated truck
technologies as well as traditional driver-operated
forklifts—had made a total contribution to the
U.S. economy in 2015 of $25.7 billion.
The report was commissioned by the Industrial
Truck Association (ITA), an industry group
that includes makers of lift trucks, tow tractors,
rough-terrain vehicles, hand-pallet trucks, and
automated guided vehicles. The overall contri-
bution of those vehicles to the economy includes
equipment manufacturing as well as support services such
as sales, leasing, and rental operations; distribution and
logistics; and training, maintenance, and repair services,
ITA said.
Seegrid: Demand for autonomous lift trucks set to rise in 2018