MENLO PARK, Calif., Aug. 22, 2023 – Cyngn Inc. (the “Company” or “Cyngn”) (Nasdaq: CYN), a developer of AI-powered autonomous driving solutions for industrial applications, recently secured a pre-order of 100 DriveMod Forklifts from Arauco, a global provider of sustainable forestry products. Once deployed, this order represents up to $5 million in annual recurring EAS license revenues while addressing only a small portion of Arauco’s existing forklift fleet.
Cyngn and Arauco announced their collaboration after a successful paid project that achieved Arauco’s requirements for moving large, heavy wood bundles on unstandardized pallets; the requirements were previously unmet by existing industrial automation solutions. Arauco initially selected Cyngn for the project based on the Company’s demonstrated ability to operate many different vehicle types autonomously using its advanced DriveMod software. The project was executed successfully in collaboration with BYD, resulting in a first-of-its-kind electric autonomous BYD forklift (“DriveMod Forklift”).
DriveMod is an end-to-end autonomy system that enables the conversion of standard industrial vehicles into fully autonomous ones by utilizing Ouster’s advanced lidar sensors, other AV hardware components, and Cyngn’s software stack and AI models. DriveMod can be installed into new vehicles off the assembly line or retrofitted into existing vehicles. With advanced lidar sensing, the DriveMod platform performs at levels higher than autonomous industrial vehicles that use legacy sensor technology.
Since partnering with Ouster in January 2023 and adding the REV7 digital lidar sensor to its DriveMod platform, Cyngn has delivered products to customers and forged partnerships to manufacture electric autonomous DriveMod Stockchasers (Columbia Vehicle Group), DriveMod Tuggers (Motrec), and DriveMod Forklifts (BYD) with leading manufacturers eager to meet the growing demand for autonomous industrial vehicles.
“Cyngn is pushing the boundaries of industrial autonomy with their AI-powered DriveMod platform,” said Angus Pacala, CEO of Ouster. “By adding our high-performance REV7 sensors to the DriveMod platform, Cyngn gives eyes to its industrial vehicles, allowing them to navigate seamlessly and extract rich insights from their environment in any condition.”
Cyngn developed proprietary computer vision algorithms that are bundled into a Pallet Stack Attribute Estimation sub-system within the DriveMod perception stack. DriveMod also uses lidar to inform the location of its vehicles within the site. Fusing sensor data from lidar and other sensors, DriveMod’s advanced autonomy software enables:
“Ouster’s high-quality sensors enable the impressive performance of Cyngn’s autonomous vehicles,” said Lior Tal, CEO of Cyngn. “The vertical field-of-view the lidar provides is critical for indoor environments and gives DriveMod Vehicles more coverage of blindspots than a human operator.”
Cyngn’s DriveMod platform, supplemented by Ouster lidar and outfitted to a growing number of material handling vehicle models will continue supporting modern manufacturers around the globe by tackling labor shortage challenges, enhancing workplace safety, and improving operational efficiency.
About Ouster
Ouster (NYSE: OUST) is a leading global provider of high-resolution scanning and solid-state digital lidar sensors, Velodyne Lidar sensors, and software solutions for the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries. Ouster is on a mission to build a safer and more sustainable future by offering affordable, high-performance sensors that drive mass adoption across a wide variety of applications. Ouster is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.ouster.com, or connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn.