Autonomous Trucks
Third Wave Automation (TWA), which provides artificial intelligence (AI) for high-reach autonomous forklifts, has landed a new investment wave from Qualcomm Ventures and Zebra Technologies that brings its total funding to $70 million. Third Wave said it will now expand its market offerings, accelerate new solutions for automating other classes of forklifts—including narrow aisle and counterbalance trucks—and integrate with automation solutions such as Fetch Robotics, which is now part of Zebra Technologies. “As our supply chain customers continue to battle labor shortages, they are turning to automation solutions to improve productivity. TWA's autonomous, high-reach fork trucks streamline warehouse workflows, enabling operators to increase throughput and lower costs while also improving worker safety," Tony Palcheck, managing director of Zebra Ventures at Zebra Technologies, said in a release. We are excited to invest in Third Wave Automation to bring next-generation autonomy to the forklifts.”