Jungheinrich is taking a stake in Navflex, a technology company specialising in Physical AI and the automation of truck loading and unloading. The investment strengthens the partnership between the two companies, with the aim of bringing an autonomous solution for one of the last non-automated core processes in intralogistics to market. Development is focused on the requirements of the European and North American markets. Navflex, established in Germany and the United States, focuses on automating truck loading and unloading, one of the most technically demanding use cases in intralogistics. Different trailer geometries, changing load carriers and confined space conditions place high demands on technology, safety and reliability. Demand for automation at the loading dock is particularly high, as labour-intensive processes meet a shortage of skilled workers and increasing pressure for efficiency. “Loading and unloading trucks is a key bottleneck in the material flow for many of our customers,” says Dr Tobias Harzer, chief automation officer of Jungheinrich. “Together with Navflex, we are developing a solution that specifically addresses this process and reliably automates it. In addition to robustness, compactness, and maneuverability at the loading dock, we place particular emphasis on safety – especially in environments where humans and machines operate side by side.” As part of the collaboration, Jungheinrich combines its expertise in developing industrial trucks and autonomous mobile robots, its industry knowledge and its systems integration and service capabilities with Navflex’s software and robotics expertise. The joint solution is based on an industrialised vehicle platform from Jungheinrich that is being further developed for automated operation at the loading dock. The result is an autonomous mobile solution tailored to variable dock environments, which can be integrated into existing logistics processes without additional infrastructure. Navflex contributes software for autonomous perception, navigation, safety and process logic in the truck environment. “We deliberately