Colruyt Group sells robotics division to German multinational

Colruyt Group is selling its research and development activities related to autonomous pallet trucks to Kion, the owner of Still. A center of expertise in Antwerp will prepare the solution for industrial deployment.

Strong potential

In 2023, Colruyt Group, in collaboration with Still, put its first self-developed, self-driving pallet truck into service. Colruyt designed and built the software intelligence, while Still handled the hardware integration. These autonomous vehicles have now been operating smoothly alongside the logistics teams at two of the retailer’s distribution centers for two years.

To further expand these groundbreaking logistics solutions and prepare them for an international industrial rollout, Colruyt Group is selling 70% of its research and development activities in the field of self-driving pallet trucks to Kion, a global supplier of forklifts, warehouse technology, and logistics solutions.

The transaction generates added value of approximately 20 million euros. The technology resulting from this collaboration is being developed entirely in Belgium, at the Kion Automation Center Antwerp, with the support of VLAIO (Flemish Agency for Innovation & Entrepreneurship). Kion sees strong potential in these innovative solutions, not only in retail but also far beyond, in numerous other sectors.