OXA’S DIRECTOR of solutions for EMEA Ross James, says: “The main driver for them is the driver shortages they might have and how they are going to maintain a consistent service for their customers. They need to be able to make sure that when they start the discharge operation, it’s going to run to schedule and they’re going to get all of the containers off the ship. Safety comes into it too.”

Oxa’s model is retrofit: sensors and computing fitted to existing industrial vehicles, whether designed for autonomy or not.

“We’re not locking customers into certain vehicle platforms,” James says, and upfitting costs significantly less than buying purpose-built autonomous vehicles, so automation can follow fleet renewal cycles.

Vehicles can still be driven manually or supported remotely, clients are happy because “people are able to just jump in the vehicle and use it to move themselves as well”.

Ports, manufacturing and airports are the key markets for Oxa.