Third Wave Automation develops autonomous forklift systems built on a Shared Autonomy platform that combines machine learning with remote human oversight.
Founded in 2018 under CEO Arshan Poursohi, the company addresses the material handling labor shortage by enabling one human operator to remotely supervise multiple autonomous reach trucks simultaneously. The architecture keeps humans in the loop rather than pursuing fully lights-out automation, balancing autonomy with human judgment in complex warehouse environments.
The company has raised $97 million across multiple funding rounds, including a $40 million Series B and a $27 million Series C led by Woven Capital, and formed a strategic partnership with Toyota Industries Corporation to scale manufacturing.
Technically, machine learning models handle routine tasks autonomously while deferring edge cases and exceptions to remote operators. This model maintains throughput during normal operations while escalating challenging scenarios - unusual pallet configurations, unexpected obstacles, or non-standard pick locations - to human supervisors who can manage multiple vehicles from a remote station. Deployments span warehousing, logistics, and manufacturing facilities.