NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters): Walmart has plans to potentially spend $200 million on self-driving forklifts as part of broader efforts to automate more warehouse operations, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The world's largest retailer wants autonomous forklifts to move pallets of goods in its distribution centres, which replenish Walmart stores. It has intended to buy possibly hundreds from Fox Robotics and invested $25 million in the Austin-based startup, the sources said.
The rollout, which Walmart could stop at any time, would occur in stages over several years and hinges on the retailer's satisfaction with the "FoxBots," said the people, who were not authorized to discuss the plans publicly.
Details about Walmart's investment and rollout have not been reported before. They underscore the company's strategy for warehouse automation, which aims to grow profit and help it compete with retailers like Amazon.com.
Camille Dunn, a Walmart spokesperson, declined to comment on the $200 million spending plans. She referred Reuters to an April announcement that said Walmart had piloted the technology and would add at least 19 FoxBots to four facilities, noting that deployments are "an evolving process" from proof of concept to rollout.
"We evaluate the performance at each phase to determine if the technology meets our ability to better serve customers," she said in an email. "Some initiatives we scale, some initiatives we don't."
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