On 13 June 2022, German technology company Continental and Dutch-Belgian technology company Octiva, signed a collaboration agreement to develop autonomous mobile robotic solutions for horticultural applications. Octiva is the new name for Priva Kompano, the recent merger between Priva’s horticultural robotics activities and Octinion’s agricultural robotics. With that bundling of forces, the partners will develop an industry-leading, autonomous and reliable solution that will shape the future of horticulture.

Automated and enhanced greenhouse processes
All existing and new applications, such as UV-C treatment, cutting leaves or picking strawberries will be built on Continental’s autonomous platforms. “Adding Continental’s autonomy capabilities to our market leading applications will allow us to offer our customers new features and thereby enable additional benefits for them. Moreover, it allows us to implement a focus driven strategy which will lead to a faster market entry.” says Tom Coen, CEO of Octiva. “Octiva’s market expertise allows us to enter this substantial growth market and to develop the exactly right platform for this market,” says Andreas Mandl, Project Lead for Continental.

Combining forces in autonomous robots
Octiva has developed a mobility platform that allows applications to move autonomously and safely within greenhouses. By joining forces with Continental, Octiva accelerates the development and industrialization, creating the reference platform for greenhouse automation. For Continental, the collaboration states a next step in their growth strategy in autonomous mobile robots. Pierre Pomper, Head of Autonomous Mobile Robots at Continental: “Entering this new market will allow us to further enhance our autonomous mobile robot solutions that we offer to customers globally. We will continue to cooperate with strong partners to provide our autonomous platform to diverse end markets beyond intralogistics and horticulture.”

Partnerships that shape the future of horticulture
“Our partnership with Continental, a strong partner and industry leader, allows us to establish a strong product line with the clear objective to become the market leader for autonomous horticulture robot solutions,” says Meiny Prins, CEO of Priva. Octiva will announce additional partnerships soon, as their ambition is clear: becoming the technology leader in horticultural robotics.