The e-commerce industry is flourishing across the globe, particularly in emerging economies, including Brazil, China, and India. With the advent of online shopping platforms and hassle-free home delivery, people can now easily choose from a wide variety of things. Moreover, the disposable income of people in developed and developing countries is increasing as well, which is why they are able to spend more on different items. As the industry is witnessing growth, the need for increasing productivity and efficiency in warehouses is rising swiftly as well. Attributed to this, different companies in the e-commerce industry are increasingly making use of automated guided vehicles.

Also known as self-guided vehicles, automated guided vehicles are load carriers or material handling systems which travel throughout distribution centers, warehouses, or manufacturing facilities autonomously, i.e., without a driver or operator. For example, Amazon Inc. makes use of robots called drives for delivering large stacks of products to the human workforce. The robots follow a set path in the warehouse and have the ability to detect obstacles in their path. Owing to such attributes, the global automated guided vehicles market is expected to progress at a significant pace in the years to come.

Forklift trucks, tow vehicles, assembly line vehicles, unit load carriers, and pallet trucks are the different types of automated guided vehicles, out of which, the demand for tow vehicles was the highest in the past. This is because of the rising replacement and adoption of traditional tow vehicles in different industries. Take for example Tesla Inc., a major automaker, which has deployed these vehicles in its Gigafactory. The machine makes use of navigational beacons for making its way through the production facility.

These automated vehicles make use of different navigational technologies to get around, including vision guidance, laser guidance, optical tape guidance, magnetic guidance, and inductive guidance. The demand for automated guided vehicles with laser guidance navigational technology is predicted to be the highest in the years to come. Other than this, the demand for vehicles with vision guidance technology is also projected to rise considerably in the near future. The vision guidance technology enable automated guided vehicles to build a 3D map, which is done by taking a series of pictures, while they are operating in the warehouse. A number of industries make use of these vehicles, including retail, automotive, aerospace, food & beverages, and manufacturing.

Geographically, North America emerged as the largest automated guided vehicles market in the past, which can be ascribed to the rapid integration of emerging technologies, such as internet of things, augmented reality, and virtual reality, in production and inventory management processes and increasing warehouse automation rate in the region. Apart from this, the demand for these vehicles is also expected to increase in the Asia-Pacific region, owing to the expanding e-commerce industry, automotive, and consumer electronics industries. Furthermore, the growing logistics industry in the region is also driving the demand for automated guided vehicles.

Hence, the demand for automated guided vehicles is predicted to increase due to the growth of the e-commerce industry and need for automation in warehouses.