TLD Robotics has launched as a new ALVEST company focused on autonomous ground operations following ALVEST’s acquisition of EasyMile, combining EasyMile, TractEasy, and TLD’s existing driverless activities into a single business serving airports and industrial facilities.
The new company brings together autonomous driving software, purpose-built industrial vehicles, fleet management technology, manufacturing, deployment expertise and ongoing customer support under one organization.
TLD Robotics begins operations with a substantial real-world deployment base.
Its technology has completed more than 50,000 autonomous missions across more than 35 active operations in over 10 countries, including deployments at more than 15 airports and more than 20 industrial sites.
Customers include dnata, BMW Group Dingolfing, Daimler Truck, Bosch, John Deere, Munich Airport, Narita Airport and Lufthansa Cargo.
The autonomous fleet is currently tripling each year, and TLD Robotics said the business is already more than a year ahead of earlier deployment projections.
Many customer sites operate around the clock, giving the company experience running autonomous vehicles continuously in live commercial environments rather than only through pilots or demonstrations.
TLD Robotics is led by CEO Richard Reno.
The launch represents the culmination of nearly a decade of collaboration between TLD and EasyMile, which began working together in 2017 when autonomous ground support equipment was still largely viewed as an emerging technology.
Three years ago, the companies created TractEasy to commercialize autonomous tow tractors and related systems.
Since then, the business has scaled approximately tenfold, according to Reno. The formation of TLD Robotics now brings the technology, vehicles, teams and deployment operations together under a unified brand with the goal of expanding another tenfold over the coming years.
The company is focusing primarily on structured environments such as airports, factories, warehouses and logistics hubs.
These locations can be well suited to autonomous vehicles because routes are often repetitive, operating areas are defined and material movement represents a significant labor and operational cost.
TLD Robotics’ autonomous vehicles include tow tractors and cargo-handling systems designed to move baggage, freight and other materials across indoor and outdoor routes.
The company is positioning itself as more than an autonomous vehicle manufacturer.
Its integrated platform includes supervision software for coordinating autonomous missions across fleets, onboard software that allows individual vehicles to perceive and respond to their surroundings, purpose-built vehicle platforms, fleet and operations management technology and global manufacturing and support.
That integration is intended to address a shift in the autonomous vehicle market from experimentation toward scaled commercial operations.
Customers increasingly need providers capable of designing an autonomous workflow, supplying the vehicles, integrating software, deploying the system and supporting it after launch rather than working with separate technology vendors for each part of the project.
TLD Robotics gains a significant industrial base from ALVEST and TLD.
TLD is a major ground support equipment manufacturer with 12 factories across seven countries, giving the robotics company manufacturing capacity that can support larger deployments as demand grows.
The company also has engineering, deployment and customer support operations across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The launch comes as airports and industrial companies face several pressures that can make automation more attractive, including labor shortages, safety requirements, operational costs and decarbonization goals.
Autonomous tow tractors can potentially perform repetitive material-movement tasks continuously while allowing human employees to focus on work requiring greater judgment or flexibility.
ALVEST sees autonomous systems as a natural extension of its broader strategy around making ground operations more efficient and reducing environmental impact.
The acquisition of EasyMile gives the group direct ownership of more of the underlying autonomous driving technology rather than relying primarily on partnerships.
TLD Robotics will continue executing all deployments and customer engagements previously operated under the TractEasy brand.
The company’s current footprint includes more than 35 active sites across four continents, with its systems having already completed more than 50,000 fully autonomous missions.
That operating history provides TLD Robotics with a base of real-world data and deployment experience as it seeks to expand autonomous operations across airports, logistics networks and industrial environments.
KEY QUOTES:
“When TLD and EasyMile began working together in 2017, autonomous GSE was still seen as a future concept. We saw the opportunity in structured environments like airports and logistics hubs early and have turned that vision into a proven business. Since creating TractEasy three years ago, we have scaled tenfold.”
Richard Reno, CEO of TLD Robotics
“Automation is the future of our business. Every operator we work with faces the same pressures: safety, labor availability, cost and decarbonization. Autonomy addresses them all and is a natural extension of our Leaner & Greener strategy. ALVEST brings the long-term ambition, industrial strength and financial capacity to deploy at scale.”
Valentin Schmitt, President and CEO of ALVEST
