Warehouses to go white collar with forklifts operated remotely

Phantom Auto, a California-based startup focusing on remote vehicle operation, has struck a deal to provide logistics equipment heavyweight Mitsubishi Logisnext Co. with software that enables forklifts to be operated remotely from thousands of miles away. A unit of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kyoto-based Mitsubishi Logisnext is the third-biggest company in the $45 billion-plus global market for forklifts. "We're moving warehouse workers into office jobs," Elliot Katz, Phantom Auto co-founder and chief business officer, said in an interview. Deloitte estimates that as many as 2.1 million manufacturing jobs will go unfilled through 2030. To date, Phantom Auto has poured about $20 million into its teleoperation technologies, he said.