BYD and Cyngn Develop AI-Powered Autonomous Forklift

Cyngn Inc., a developer of AI-powered autonomous driving solutions for industrial applications, has announced that it has made significant progress to enable autonomous forklifts. The autonomous vehicle capabilities have been developed on an electric BYD forklift.

The powerful material handling vehicle capabilities offered by China's BYD, in conjunction with Cyngn's autonomous technology, DriveMod, will facilitate the development of the autonomous forklift.

Features of the forklift include Flexible Pallet Detection, which uses proprietary AI and computer vision to detect and analyse pallet dimensions in real-time, creating flexibility to work with standard, non-standard, and custom pallet sizes.

This solution is aimed at tackling labour shortage and consistency challenges faced by organisations, while simultaneously enhancing safety measures.

California-based Cyngn is targeting 2024 for the commercial launch of its autonomous forklift.

BYD has more than 700,000 employees across the globe, including nearly 1,000 in North America.

Cyngn CEO, Lior Tal, says: “Adapting DriveMod to electric forklifts represents a significant milestone in the expansion of Cyngn's portfolio of DriveMod-enabled vehicles to the most universal material handling vehicle. By combining our expertise in autonomous technology with a leading OEM like BYD, we can create sustainable, autonomous forklifts capable of tackling the most demanding industrial jobs.”

Audrey Li, BYD’s VP of Operations adds: “This development represents a significant step forward in our commitment to innovation and delivering advanced, next-generation solutions to our customers, who choose BYD because they want to ‘Work Smarter’. The addition of DriveMod to our forklifts addresses the rising demand for automated solutions. BYD forklifts are powered by a single lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery that is maintenance-free and environmentally friendly. The batteries are designed to run longer and charge faster than traditional electric forklifts. We are excited about the potential impact this technology will have on organizations’ bottom line and look forward to the opportunities it will unlock.”

Cyngn develops and deploys scalable, differentiated autonomous vehicle technology for industrial organisations.