Autonomy is earned, zone by zone.
Every physical step in WarehouseAI is specified so certified equipment could do it without routine human labour. Getting there is a measured climb. Each zone starts where it is, moves up only on evidence and keeps its manual fallback all the way.
Six levels, from paper to lights-out.
The level recorded for a zone comes from measured evidence, not from a setting. Choose a level to see who does what.
System-directed
People do every movement, guided by WarehouseAI tasks, scans and confirmations.
- People
- Follow tasks on a phone or scanner and confirm each step.
- WarehouseAI
- Assigns the work, checks each scan and keeps the ledger balanced.
One facility, six zones, four different levels
Autonomy is set per facility, zone and process, so a robot grid can run beside manual loading. The highlighted zones are the ones at the level you picked.
A promotion is a release, not a toggle.
Moving a process or zone to a higher level follows the same discipline as shipping software: evidence, a trial, an approval and a way back.
Commission
The equipment and adapter pass physical tests and failure-recovery drills at this facility.
Shadow run
The automated path runs alongside the current one, and both are compared.
Sustain
Accuracy and intervention thresholds hold for a defined period.
Approve
A named person approves the promotion, with a rollback plan on file.
Monitor
If thresholds are breached, the zone is demoted automatically or a demotion is proposed.
Measured, per process and per facility.
Each autonomy level has targets. The share of units and tasks completed without a human touch is reported per process, operating profile and facility.
Every step a person still has to do is recorded as a gap, along with what would close it.
- Manual touches per order and per unit
- Interventions per 1,000 automated tasks
- Mean time between interventions
- Mean time to resolve
- Remote versus on-site resolution
- Exceptions by category
Exceptions get playbooks, not phone calls.
Exceptions are classified, and each class has a versioned playbook. A person is called only when no certified automated path exists or the playbook’s limits are exceeded.
One remote workspace for every autonomous zone.
At L4, nobody works the floor routinely. Supervisors see every site from one workspace and resolve exceptions without walking out to them.
- Autonomy state, exception queues, equipment health and flow bottlenecks across sites.
- Video and sensor evidence next to the exception it explains.
- Remote decisions: approve, reallocate, divert, or ask a controller to pause or resume.
- Remote help for robot cells, such as confirming an item’s identity, without bypassing local safety functions.
Safety stays with the safety systems.
WarehouseAI records safety state. It does not implement safety functions. Automated zones exclude routine human entry, and maintenance follows the controllers.
- Entering maintenance mode is recorded through access-control and safety integrations.
- A maintenance task can start only after the controller reports a safe state.
- Inventory and open tasks are reconciled when the zone comes back into service.
- Stock is verified during normal operation through vision or weight audits at ports, check-weighing and location sensors, so there is no need to stop for manual counts.
Lights-out is the destination. No routine labour is the honest version.
Even at L5, people still attend for preventive maintenance, breakdown recovery, inspections and the rare physical problem. The goal is no routine work in normal receiving, storage, picking, packing and dispatch. Seven delivery stages lead there.
1. Platform foundation
Invariants proven by automated tests.
2. Directed manual operations
L1Audited manual journeys for each operating profile.
3. Integrations and segments
End-to-end 3PL, quick-commerce and courier scenarios pass.
4. Equipment and hybrid automation
L2–L3Automated transfers confirmed, recoverable and equivalent to manual.
5. Autonomous operations
L4No routine on-floor labour in promoted zones.
6. Optimisation and intelligence
Measured improvement over baseline.
7. Lights-out operations
L5Lights-out readiness criteria met.
Bars show how many requirements are first due in each stage. Each stage ends when its exit evidence passes.
Find out which of your zones can climb first.
Tell us about your layout, equipment and order volumes. We’ll go through where each zone would start and what evidence would move it up.