FleetController – Next generation software for AGVs

A fleet management system such as Rocla FleetController is essential because it connects with the Warehouse Management System to receive the transport orders and allocates them to the fleet. It acts as the central intelligence of material‑handling operations, ensuring every vehicle works in a coordinated, efficient and safe manner. By making real‑time decisions on task allocation, routing and traffic flow, it prevents congestion, reduces delays and keeps both AGVs and manual forklifts operating smoothly. 

The FleetController Dashboard enhances this further by providing real‑time visibility of system status, workload and vehicle performance, enabling faster, data‑driven decision‑making. When integrated with a Warehouse Management System, FleetController ensures transport orders are executed accurately and consistently, improving throughput and overall operational efficiency. 

In short, a fleet management system turns individual vehicles into a unified, high‑performing fleet.  

To meet evolving intralogistics demands, we are now extending technology traditionally used for AGVs to manually operated forklifts as well. This enables seamless collaboration between automated and manual operations, optimises material flow and ensures the right level of investment, allowing businesses to automate only where it adds value and scale up when needed.

Whether you are aiming for a fully automated warehouse or integrating AGVs into your existing workflows, FleetController will ensure every movement is optimised.

No. FleetController does not replace your Warehouse Management System (WMS); it complements it. The WMS keeps inventory and decides what should be transported, where and when. FleetController manages the fleet and decides who does what, and by which route. Integrating seamlessly with your existing WMS, FleetController enhances its capabilities and ensures both systems work together to maximise operational efficiency.

FleetController receives transport orders from the WMS and uses them to manage and optimise your AGV fleet. It ensures every vehicle is in the right place at the right time by dispatching AGVs along the most efficient routes and actively preventing congestion. This coordination enables smoother workflows, better throughput, and more consistent performance across your material‑handling operations.

If you currently do not have a WMS in place, we can also provide you with one to support and streamline your processes.

The short answer: you don’t need FleetController to run your manual operations.

However, combining your existing WMS with FleetController unlocks significant operational advantages, especially if you operate both AGVs and manual forklifts.

FleetController unifies AGVs and driver‑operated forklifts into a single mixed‑fleet management platform. This means both vehicle types operate as one coordinated system, improving collaboration, increasing flexibility, and enabling more responsive and scalable material handling. The result is a smoother, more efficient workflow across the entire facility.

With FleetController, you can monitor, control, and optimise all fleet activities from one platform. While you focus on running your operations, FleetController continuously optimises task flow, balances workload, manages area usage, and keeps your WMS updated in real time.

This ensures that your WMS remains the system of record, while FleetController enhances fleet efficiency, removes bottlenecks, and provides the operational intelligence needed for safe and productive mixed fleet environments.

Yes. With Rocla FleetController, manual operations and AGVs can safely work in the same environment and even share the same task queue. This gives managers complete visibility and control over all activities from a single system. 

 Within the FleetController Dashboard, you can easily define and restrict specific facility areas and assign them to either manual operators or automated processes. This flexibility allows you to quickly adapt to peak demand, temporarily reduce automation, or balance tasks between humans and AGVs as needed. 

To support safe and efficient mixed‑fleet operations, FleetController also includes advanced features that enhance communication with the AGV system and allow dynamic adjustments to allocation policies. These capabilities ensure the system can respond effectively to changing conditions while maintaining consistent safety across all operations. 

Manual operations connect to FleetController through the FLO App, which serves as the communication interface between the system and forklift drivers. The app allows operators to execute transport tasks sent directly from FleetController, ensuring manual forklifts stay fully integrated with automated workflows. 

You can set rules for FleetController on how to distribute work between AGVs and manual forklifts. These rules and allocation policies ensure that tasks are assigned smoothly across all shifts, keeping your operations uninterrupted and your fleet consistently productive. 

Thanks to automatically executed workload‑balancing rules, FleetController can assign tasks to the most suitable resource, whether that’s an automated vehicle or a driver‑operated forklift without delay. The system also applies order balancing to react quickly to daily fluctuations, operational deviations, or sudden changes in demand. This strengthens coordination between manual operators and AGVs and improves overall workflow efficiency. 

Our AGVs are equipped with a range of standard safety features and scanners compliant with the 3691-4 safety standard. Together with additional options, such as the Proximity Detection System (PDS), they ensure safe and reliable operations in shared environments.

Nevertheless, in a mixed‑fleet environment, where AGVs and manual forklifts operate together, fluent traffic relies on both resources following the correct operating practices. When each vehicle behaves as expected, the system can function in seamless, reliable collaboration.

(1) Safety: 

AGVs operate with certified safety scanners, speed‑limiting functions, obstacle detection and emergency‑stop circuits, giving them predictable and ISO 3691-4-compliant safety behaviour. 

Manual forklifts, on the other hand, rely on operator awareness and adherence to site rules, supported by warning lights, audible alerts and optional proximity detection systems, which enhance awareness but are not safety‑rated.  

At a higher level, FleetController contributes to overall safety by managing access to designated areas, coordinating traffic flow and reducing congestion. This ensures that automated and manual vehicles can work safely in the same operational zones.

(2) Vehicle capabilities: 

AGVs provide consistent, route‑based navigation and are ideal for structured, repeatable material‑handling tasks.  

Manual forklifts bring human‑driven flexibility, allowing operators to manage exceptions, handle irregular loads and respond to unexpected situations.  

FleetController considers these differences when allocating work, ensuring each task is assigned to the most suitable resource.

(3) System control: 

By centralising operations in FleetController, AGVs and manual forklifts can be managed through a unified task allocation system.  

The platform applies policy‑based dispatching, enforces area restrictions and balances workloads across shifts in real time.  

This coordinated approach improves efficiency, minimises traffic conflicts and enables smooth, safe performance across the entire mixed‑fleet operation. 

The user‑friendly FleetController Dashboard provides real‑time visibility into system status, vehicle activity, task progress, and workload levels. It also enables operators to interact directly with the system by easily defining and restricting specific areas within the facility, assigning them to either manual forklift operators or AGVs. 

This level of flexibility allows operations teams to quickly respond to peak demand, temporarily scale automation up or down, or distribute tasks more effectively between human drivers and automated vehicles. The result is greater transparency and traceability across the entire workflow, supporting safer operations, better‑informed decision‑making, and more efficient overall fleet management.  

FleetController uses two advanced optimisation layers; the Order Optimizer and the Route Optimizer, which can be applied across all AGVs and manual resources. Together, they automatically optimise how transport orders are allocated and executed.

The Order Optimizer anticipates operational needs by prioritising tasks and identifying the most suitable AGV or forklift for each order. It continuously refines these decisions over time, minimising delays and improving workflow coordination across the entire mixed fleet. 

The Route Optimizer plans the most efficient paths for the whole fleet using real‑time data. By dynamically adjusting routes based on current conditions, it helps prevent congestion, reduces travel time, and ensures that each vehicle follows the optimal path for every task.