For a warehouse considering a large unmanned forklift deployment, starting with a small proof of concept can allow the buyer to validate the technology before committing to the full fleet.

A two-vehicle POC can be useful, but only if it is designed to answer the questions that matter for the future 40-unit deployment.

What Should the POC Prove?

The purpose of a POC should not simply be to demonstrate that an AGV can drive around a warehouse.

The test should represent the actual production workflow.

• Automatic pallet pickup

• Travel between representative locations

• Rack placement

• High-level lifting where applicable

• Automatic pallet retrieval

• Charging

• Traffic interaction

• Manual forklift interaction

• Exception handling

• Communication recovery

Use Real Pallets and Real Loads

A POC should use the pallets, racks, load profiles, and operating conditions expected during production.

If the production warehouse uses several pallet types, include representative examples in the pilot.

Testing only with clean, empty demonstration pallets may not reveal problems caused by damaged pallets, uneven loads, different load centers, or inconsistent pallet geometry.

Measure More Than Driving

Record actual operating data during the POC.

• Completed missions

• Cycle time

• Waiting time

• Manual interventions

• Failed pickups

• Failed placements

• Charging events

• Alarm events

• Communication interruptions

• Vehicle availability

The objective is to understand how the system behaves during representative warehouse work, not simply whether the vehicle can complete a demonstration route.

Test the Fleet Software With Two Vehicles

Two vehicles are enough to expose some fleet-management issues that cannot be seen with a single AGV.

Test task assignment, traffic management, intersection priorities, charging requests, vehicle faults, blocked routes, and recovery after a vehicle becomes unavailable.

The buyer should also ask how the same software architecture will scale when the fleet increases to the planned production quantity.

Define the Expansion Conditions Before the POC

If the long-term plan is to expand from 2 vehicles to 40, define the criteria for expansion before starting the pilot.

These criteria may include technical performance, warehouse throughput, manual intervention frequency, safety testing, system integration, operator acceptance, and service response.

The exact criteria should reflect the buyer's actual business requirements.

Check Whether the POC Hardware Matches the Production Fleet

A POC is more useful when the pilot vehicles are representative of the planned production configuration.

If the pilot uses one navigation system, controller, battery, sensor package, fork configuration, and software architecture while the production fleet will use different components, the POC may not fully validate the final system.

Any planned changes should be documented before the pilot is accepted.

Write the POC-to-Production Process Into the Commercial Agreement

If the POC is part of a larger purchasing plan, clarify how the successful pilot will lead to the next phase.

The agreement can identify the pilot quantity, production quantity, technical configuration, acceptance criteria, pricing assumptions, engineering scope, and conditions for future orders.

This avoids a situation where the pilot succeeds technically but the production phase requires a completely new commercial and engineering negotiation.

A POC Should Reduce Uncertainty

A two-vehicle POC is most valuable when it answers the specific questions that could create risk in a 40-vehicle deployment.

The pilot should therefore test the real warehouse workflow, representative loads, fleet software, integration, safety functions, charging, exception handling, and expansion architecture.

The result should be a documented technical decision rather than simply a successful product demonstration.