HYUNDAI WIA is set to supply autonomous forklifts for use at actual manufacturing sites. HYUNDAI WIA aims to strengthen its presence in the market by expanding the lineup of H-Motion, its mobile robot brand.

On September 7, HYUNDAI WIA announced that it will begin supplying autonomous forklifts capable of autonomously moving and loading or unloading goods onto and from trucks. The forklifts will be deployed for the first time at Kia Autoland Hwaseong beginning in May 2027. HYUNDAI WIA is the first company in Korea to successfully supply fully autonomous forklifts capable of loading and unloading operations. A video of HYUNDAI WIA’s autonomous forklift is available on HYUNDAI WIA’s YouTube channel.

The key feature of HYUNDAI WIA’s autonomous forklift is its ability to navigate plant floors autonomously, transport goods on pallets, and perform loading and unloading operations without human intervention.
In particular, HYUNDAI WIA leveraged its experience in mass-producing Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) to develop the autonomous forklift. Equipped with LiDAR sensor, Vision Sensor, and Safety Scanner, the forklift can navigate the plant and transport products autonomously. In addition, the company utilized Digital Twin technology to create a simulated plant environment similar to an actual manufacturing site, enabling the autonomous forklift to generate optimal routes.

HYUNDAI WIA has focused its technological expertise on loading and unloading functions, the most critical function of a forklift. First, vision sensors enable the forklift to accurately identify the position of pallets. In particular, the forklift was designed to operate while taking into account various factors, including the condition of the truck, the slight lowering of the vehicle caused by loading of the goods, and pallet movement resulting from ground conditions. In addition, HYUNDAI WIA applied the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm to optimize data in real time. This enables the autonomous forklift to recognize pallets with 100% accuracy even when they are displaced by up to 250 mm from their target positions or rotated more than 10 degrees to the left or right. HYUNDAI WIA also equipped the autonomous forklift with a posture correction function to account for the slopes of container access ramps during container operations.

HYUNDAI WIA’s autonomous forklift has a maximum load capacity of 4 tons, comparable to that of mid-sized forklifts commonly used in manufacturing facilities.  Its maximum speed is approximately 6.5 km/h, in line with on-site safety speed limits. In addition, safety scanners are installed on all four sides of the autonomous forklift to detect obstacles and help prevent accidents, enabling it to stop immediately when it encounters a potential hazard.

HYUNDAI WIA aims to expand its global business by establishing a comprehensive mobile robot solution portfolio that includes autonomous forklifts, commercially deployed AMRs, and parking robots. “With the supply of autonomous forklifts, we have further diversified our lineup of industrial robots for manufacturing sites. We will continue striving to become a company that transforms manufacturing sites around the world through H-Motion, our industrial mobile robot brand,” said an official from HYUNDAI WIA.