Toyota to Deploy Driverless Vehicles at Oz Warehouse

Toyota Australia will introduce a fleet of autonomous Autopilot vehicles – six tow trucks and a reach truck forklift – at its warehouse outside Melbourne next year.

The hybrids will include integrated navigation and safety systems, including scanners and obstacle-detection devices designed to stop the vehicle and minimize the risk of a collision.

Fleet management, emergency-stop buttons, warning sounds and lights will be standard across the range along with a blue LED warning light projected in front of the vehicle.

Autopilot will deliver energy efficiencies via lithium-ion batteries, automatic charging, high vehicle utilization and low maintenance costs, Toyota Australia says.

The vehicles will be manufactured in Sweden by Toyota Material Handling Europe.

They will apply Autopilot driverless technology to achieve mobility in conveyance, towing, lifting and the ability to autonomously place product throughout the warehouse and select and transfer orders for customers.

All models in the range also will be able to be used in manual mode as conventional warehouse vehicles.

Toyota Australia will work with Toyota Material Handling Australia and Toyota Fleet Management on the introduction.

Sean Hanley, Toyota Australia vice president-sales and marketing, says the company understands and appreciates the importance of automation technology.

“Toyota Australia will continue to develop, progress and employ these new ways of thinking whenever possible,” Hanley says in a statement. “We are extremely committed to delivering the highest level of reliability, performance and productivity, and Autopilot ticks every one of these boxes.”